The Choice-Power Paradox

A gourmet food store in California put out a selection of 24 jams, offering people a chance to try before they buy. Every few hours, they switched the 24 to a selection of 6.

60% of customers were drawn to the large assortment, and just 40% to the smaller set of six.

Turns out, we really love choice.

Why?

Choice is Power

Studies of primal behaviour and instinct show choice is linked to control and survival. Looking back on history, the available choices have increased over time, and for hundreds of years only a small selection of the richest people had choice in the food they ate and how they spent their time. Without choice, we feel powerless and it’s tougher to survive and thrive.

Remove choice, and we instantly crave autonomy and control. The covid-19 pandemic provides a great example of how removing choice causes high levels of stress. Losing control over how we spent our time, how often we could socialise or go outside, meant many of us made radical choices that remained in our control. What did you choose to do with the remaining freedoms you had? Some people chose to change job or move house and almost 1 in 5 US households got a dog.

After the pandemic, many of us have passionately exercised our right to choose whether we work from home or the office. A study by Steelcase found it’s not the act of working from home but the control and personal sense of power it affords that makes people feel more engaged at work.

According to Forbes author Tracy Brower, providing choice and control for employees is one of the most impactful things a leader can do.

Studies show that failing to do so can have disastrous consequences: people in high-stress jobs with little control over their workflow have higher rates of illness and mortality than those with equal stress and more choice and flexibility.

The ability to make decisions and have control over our work is not just power, it’s survival.

Yet if choice is power, why do so many powerful people wear the same outfit every day?

Choice is Pressure

Back to the Californian gourmet food store. Whilst 60% of people sampled the larger selection of jams, just 3% of them bought some. Yet for the 40% who sampled the smaller selection, the proportion of sales was much higher at 30%.

We say we want choice, but in reality it’s overwhelming.

We’ve all heard about decision fatigue, but when we make on average 33,000 decisions per day, how many is too many?

Our personal circumstances change how we perceive the choices around us — we all have triggers that overwhelm us to different degrees and leave us susceptible to decision fatigue.

Supermarket shoppers who are more price-sensitive due to their economic circumstances experience higher levels of decision fatigue than other shoppers and are more prone to impulse purchases when they reach the checkout.

Influential people who make many decisions each day wear the same outfit to minimise decision fatigue. They don’t need that extra choice because they are already making so many that day.

If choice is power in some moments and pressure in others, how can we find a middle way?

Like what you’re reading?

Balance Choice and Power

Choice and power are both about control — so you need one or the other in order to feel content.

New research finds that “lacking power makes people thirsty for choice.” People are willing to trade one source of control for the other.

Those who lacked power wanted more choice and were willing to go to great lengths (drive further, wait longer) to get it. If, however, they were presented with a wide set of choices they didn’t strive for as much power.

The research also found the opposite to be true: when people were choice-starved, they craved power, for example, expressing a desire to occupy a high-powered position.

Ultimately people can be content with either power or choice, or both, but having neither results in a loss of control that makes them unhappy.

What can each of us do about it?

Where are you on the choice — power spectrum? Are you in a busy job, bombarded with decisions? Is your work more executional, resulting in relatively low levels of decision-making?

If you’re feeling starved of decisions and influence, giving yourself more choices can reset the balance.

If, on the other hand, you’re feeling drained, turning some personal choices into habits will lighten the load.

Here are a few daily choices you might be making. Do you need to restrict or relish them?

• What to wear Restrict: buy in bulk and wear the same daily Relish: take the time to choose a feel-good outfit

• What to use Restrict: use a daily routine of set products (shampoo, skincare) in a set order Relish: choose from a selection of products depending on your mood

• What to eat Restrict: eat the same food served in the same way in a set portion Relish: choose what you feel like today, and choose how you serve it

• How to travel Restrict: do your daily commute at the same time, on the same route Relish: take a detour, choose a different route or method of transport

• How to relax Restrict: create daily rituals such as breathing exercises, listening to the same music Relish: watch something new, explore somewhere different

You might find you do some of this automatically as your level of “power” changes. When I’m busy, I happily eat the same lunch without hesitation and when I’m less busy, the thought of eating the same food as yesterday fills me with dread.

We can always have too much of a good thing and it turns out choice is no exception. We’re bombarded with potential choices daily and it’s up to us to streamline to a degree that suits our daily power balance.

So next time you’re feeling overwhelmed choosing from a selection of 24 jams, walk a loop around the supermarket and wait until they switch it for a selection of six.

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