The paradox of choice materials

One of the TED talks I've been using quite successfully in level 8 is "The paradox of choice" by Barry Schwartz. I've prepared some materials to go with this.


First, I've included a glossed transcript. Here's a cloze activity, some sentences combining items, some sentences for paraphrase practice, and a progressive deletion activity.

Here are some questions with suggested answers:

Q: According to Barry Schwartz, what are the two main problems with too much choice?

A: The first problem is that too much choice causes paralysis. In other words, people become unable to choose. The second problem is that too much choice makes us feel less satisfied with the choices we do make, even if they are good choices.

Q: Why does Schwartz choose the example of salad dressing?

A: He likely thinks that people don’t spend much time thinking about salad dressing, so he expects us to be surprised with the amount of choice, and also to think that it is a strange situation when something so unimportant involves so many options. On the other hand, most of use will have seen a salad dressing section and will understand that he is right.

Q: What is Schwartz’s view of the role of technology in choice?

A: In Schwartz’s view, technology, such as smart phones, opens up new choices that we didn’t have before, and even if we don’t take advantage of these options, they fundamentally change our experience of other everyday events, such as watching a child play soccer.

Q: Explain Schwartz’s view of patient autonomy.

A: In Schwartz’s view, the doctors are shifting responsibility to the patient even though the patient probably doesn’t have the knowledge or skill to make a good choice and even though the patient is likely sick, which makes it even harder to make good choices.

Q: What are Barry Schwartz’s four reasons why too much choice makes us feel less satisfied with the choices we do make?

A: The first reason is that so much choice makes it easy to imagine that you could have made a better choice, so you regret your choice. The second reason is that you are aware of the opportunities you are missing and these take away from the enjoyment of what you have chosen; he calls this opportunity cost. The third reason is that so much choice increases your expectations so much that nothing could meet them. Finally, with so much choice, you can only blame yourself if you are not satisfied.

Q: Barry Schwartz argues that people in rich countries should give more money to people in poor countries. According to him, who is this good for and why?

A: He thinks it’s good for both the wealthy people and the less wealthy people. This is because wealthy people have too much choice and poor people have too little choice. By giving money, wealthy people decrease their level of choice and poor people increase theirs.

Q: Explain Schwartz’s example of voluntary retirement plans: what happens and what that shows.

A: In these plans, if employees put part of their pay into a retirement savings plan, the employer will also put money in that plan, above the regular pay. In other words, employees get paid more if they participate. But when there was more choice about how to save this money, fewer employees chose it. In other words, they avoided choice, even if it cost them money.

Q: Explain the metaphor of the fishbowl that Schwartz uses.

A: In this metaphor, we are all goldfish. The fishbowl symbolizes limits to our choices. A fishbowl that is too small is not good, just as few choices is not good, but no fishbowl, like no limit on choice, is a disaster.