Psychologyspeaking topic
Choice overload: why do more options leave us less happy and less decisive? Faced with endless choice, why do we sometimes prefer not to choose at all?
— Iyengar & Lepper, choice overload
practice with this topic
Set the timer (5-30 min), take 20 seconds of prep if you like, start talking. Jot your thoughts onto the sticky-note board.
similar topics
- Overgeneralization: turning one bad experience into 'it always goes this way'. How does a single event become a rule for your whole life?
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- The Milgram obedience experiment: would we obey far enough to hurt a stranger just because an authority figure told us to? Does our conscience go quiet once we hand responsibility to whoever gave the order?
- Beck's cognitive distortion of catastrophizing: spinning a small mistake into the worst-case scenario. Why does the mind rehearse the most terrifying ending instead of the most likely one?
- Everyone in the group gives the wrong answer, and even though you know the right one, you go along with them. You report what the majority says, not what your own eyes see. Why does standing alone weigh heavier than being wrong?