Barry Schwartz - full of shit?

Barry Schwartz seems like a pretty likable guy. Sort of eccentric, minimal concept of himself, funny. However, this video here is probably the best dumb thing I've ever seen on TED.

Barry Schwartz is essentially conjecturing that all the noise that comes with having a thousand options for things is a problem. We're unhappy because we feel that, no matter how much we think we like the product we decided on, we could have had a better product. If we only lived in a Soviet-style communist state, perhaps. Just throwing it out there.

I'm not sure if this image is an argument for or
against jean choice.

The real take home I get from his TED talk is that he's basically a crotchety old man who has trouble adjusting to changes around him. The idea that anybody else leaves after purchasing jeans actually distraught over the idea that perhaps there was a better pair of jeans in that pile of thousands makes no intuitive sense for me. I doubt it does for anybody else.

I would posit that jean purchasing is largely simplified by a simple set of heuristics we apply, ala the editing stage of Kahneman's prospect theory. When I shop for jeans I have some rules: first off, they need to be reasonably close fitting to my body; second off, they need to not make me look like my dad when he wears jeans; third, they cannot be distressed or faded because that's just stupid. And, of course, they need to be in my size.

I have quickly narrowed the store to about six options. I think two look dumb and one is too pricey, so I try on two pairs and choose the one I like best. I have now found a satisfactorily reasonable approximation for the best pair of jeans in the store, and I leave whistling and looking for a hot pretzel stand.

Search theory also has a few things to say about jean purchasing. There is cost to searching - the time it takes to do so. For some, this is actually a bonus (women like to shop and other stereotypes); for me personally, it's an immense burden that makes my legs feel weak and compels me to resolve this crisis immediately. Under these conditions, Schwartz's precious scarcity of decisions is reintroduced, and is reasonably estimated by the search theory function. If it costs me to look I won't look long, and my options have narrowed.

Interesting thing to think about, but it doesn't seem realistic.