Psychologist Barry Schwartz (“The Paradox of Choice”) takes aim at a central belief of western societies: that freedom of choice leads to personal happiness. In Schwartz's estimation, all that choice is making us miserable. We set unreasonably high expectations, question our choices before we even make them, and blame our failures entirely on ourselves. His relatable examples, from consumer products (jeans, TVs, salad dressings) to lifestyle choices (where to live, what job to take, whom and when to marry), underscore this central point: Too many choices undermine happiness.

Modern affluent societies:  The “Official Dogma” is that we maximize welfare through freedom which is equated with choice… However, this is not true.

Some choice is better than none but after that point, more choice is not better.

Video on TED (July 2005):
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/93

Video on Google (April 2006):
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6127548813950043200