Humans are basically logical beings, don’t you agree? Given a choice, we weigh the factors that are presented and use our decision making skills to pick the choice that is in alignment with our values.
Well, that is what I would have said until I watched this video by Dan Ariely, which clearly shows that isn’t the case with most people!
If we have too many choices, we tend to take the easy way out and make the choice that requires the least amount of work.
And sometimes it isn’t so much that we have too MANY choices, but that one choice is easier than another so rather than think it through and really DECIDE we simply allow the default option.
So in this video, he demonstrates that
1. People tend to be lazy (are you really surprised at this?)
2. Sometimes the decision is for the seemingly better of what we have to choose from, like in the case of Tom and Ugly Tom, never mind that Jerry is part offering.
The moral of the story? We are not as rational as we would like to believe!
Dan Ariely is the author of “Predictably Irrational.”