I’ve been watching videos of old lectures from TED conferences at TED.com. Wow. I watched one on happiness that discussed how we’re happiest when we accept things as final.
In Harvard psychology professor Dan Gilbert’s talk on happiness (found here at TED.com), he talks about a photography course the psychology department set up as an experiment. The students were given cameras and eventually ended up with two 8×10 prints they were happy with. The students then were told they had to give one of the prints to the group who funded the course.
The experiment was this: half of the students were told they had to make up their mind immediately about which photograph they would give up and the other half had four days to change their mind.
The results: when polled later, the students who were able to change their mind were significantly less happy than those whose decision was final. The students who could change their mind went back and forth, causing great consternation about which print was best.
Part II of the experiment was to offer the course again, but this time the students were told there were two courses to choose from. In one course, they would have to make up their mind immediately and the other course allowed them to change their mind for some length of time.
The results: The students overwhelmingly (about 2/3 to 1/3) chose the course that allowed them to change their mind. In other words, most students chose the course that would ultimately make them less happy.
I probably would have chosen the same course. I don’t know why we do this. Is it because we don’t realize how too many choices makes us unhappy? Growing up in a Western culture, we’re taught that more choices are key to our happiness. To a large extent, this is the base our capitalist ideals are built upon.
More choices are good. Imagine if we lived in a society where one or two automobiles were made. (This is how things were for most people when Henry Ford introduced the Model T. When the Model T was introduced in 1908, it cost $850 (about $20,000 in today’s dollars). Because of increased efficiencies, by 1915, the price had dropped to $440 (abut $9,300 today). Anyone could afford one. In 1918, half of all cars in America were Model Ts.)
The average consumer in America wants choice. But the average consumer in America also seems to question their own choice as soon as they make it. Should I have bought the iPod Touch instead of the iPod Classic? Should I have bought the chocolate ice cream instead of the rocky road? Should I have had my child learn violin instead of the piano?
But countless choices lead us down a different path: the path in search of the perfect. We want the perfect drink, computer, cell phone, and home. Starbucks advertises that it offers 87,000 different drink combinations. 87,000. If you ordered three drinks a day (morning, noon, evening), it would take you 79 years, 5 months, and 12 days to try them all.
By constantly searching for the perfect, we set ourselves up for disappointment. We can’t possibly get it right every time, and as Barry Schwartz points out in another TED video, when we get it wrong we only have ourselves to blame.
To bring this back to frugality, think of how much money you might save if you are willing to stop buying what you think will be perfect and simply buy what is good enough. You’ll probably be a lot happier.
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