Analysing your IQ
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AKA: "Paradox of Choice"
Having too many options leads to decision paralysis, dissatisfaction, and regret.
Choice Overload is one of the most common cognitive errors—and one of the hardest to spot in yourself. This page explains what it is, why your brain does it, and how to mitigate it.
Faced with 30 jam varieties, you buy nothing. With 6 options, you buy one. More choice, less action.
High-stakes domains (medicine, law, finance) have developed entire systems to counteract Choice Overload. If professionals need safeguards, so do you.
This error is driven by Each option requires evaluation; too many creates cognitive overload and opportunity cost anxiety..
This bias exists because human brains evolved for survival, not accuracy. Each option requires evaluation; too many creates cognitive overload and opportunity cost anxiety. served our ancestors well. In modern contexts, it often misfires.
In investing: Choice Overload leads to holding losing positions too long or selling winners too early.
In relationships: This bias causes people to interpret ambiguous signals in ways that confirm existing beliefs about partners.
In work: Choice Overload makes it harder to update strategies when market conditions change.
In health: People ignore symptoms that contradict their self-image as "healthy" or "young."
Choice Overload has been studied extensively since the cognitive revolution. Research consistently shows that even warned subjects fall for it—awareness alone doesn't provide immunity.
Limit options artificially. Set decision criteria before browsing. Satisfice (good enough) rather than maximize.
Seek disconfirming evidence: Actively look for data that challenges your current belief.
Use decision journals: Write down predictions before outcomes are known, then review accuracy.
Consult diverse perspectives: People with different backgrounds spot different biases.
Implement decision rules: Pre-commit to criteria before emotionally charged situations arise.
Time-box decisions: Revisit important conclusions after a cooling-off period.
Some brains are more susceptible to this than others. Test your Discipline to find out.
Having too many options leads to decision paralysis, dissatisfaction, and regret.
The alternate name "Paradox of Choice" captures the intuitive essence of the bias. Choice Overload is the formal psychological term, while "Paradox of Choice" describes what it feels like in practice.
Limit options artificially. Set decision criteria before browsing. Satisfice (good enough) rather than maximize.
The underlying mechanism is each option requires evaluation; too many creates cognitive overload and opportunity cost anxiety.. Human brains evolved heuristics for speed and survival, not accuracy in modern contexts.
Yes. Intelligence doesn't provide immunity—sometimes it makes the bias worse because smart people are better at rationalizing. Awareness and structured decision processes are more protective than raw IQ.
Faced with 30 jam varieties, you buy nothing. With 6 options, you buy one. More choice, less action.