Article Critique: the Tyranny of Choic Essay

I will be writing a Article Critique on the article â€Å"The Tyranny of Choice† by Barry Schwartz. In this Critique I will addressing many psychological concepts, including what is a maximizer and satisficers. Also I will test myself to see which one fits me the most with the decision I made in my life and the ones I will make in the future. A maximizer is someone who tries to get the best out of ever situation or tries every options until they found the best one. (Schwartz,2004) A satisficers is someone who would settle for OK even if the best is out their for them. Maximizers spend the most time on everything because they spend most of the time comparing any and everything they find. Satisficers may browse and look around but when they find something that is right for them then they eliminate any further browsing. A scale was develop to distinguish the two and it is called â€Å"The Maximization Scale†. When you use the scale and and you are higher than 4 then you are considered a maximizer. If you score lower than 4 then you are considered a satisficers. Many say that a maximizer tends to become more depress than a satisficers mainly because they tend to think about the many choices they turned down to get the â€Å"best choice†. Sometimes the choice they chose isn’t that much better then the other choices they turn down. So they would dwell on the thought and it would get them upset and start to become depress. Whereas with satisficers they get depress but not as much, because they are upset about their other choices but since they lowered their standards they are pretty acceptable with their decision. (Schwartz, 2004) My score is 4.3 which means that I am more of a maximizer. When I make a decision I do all of my research before I try or do anything new. I weight out my pros and cons before I attempt to do anything, mainly because I do not want to make a mistake in the long run. At the end of the day though I am happy with the decision but some how I see better choices that I either overlooked or didn’t pay attention to. When I figure out those choices I tend to get upset or mad with my self, because some time I think the magic what if Some try to put their all in their getting what they assume is the best choice. â€Å"The more we invest in a decision the more satisfaction we expect to realize from our investment.†(Schwartz,2004,pg 74) What ever they invest in, they expect to be able to use it or learn from it for a long period of time not a short one. The reason I say that is because they wouldn’t want to spend all their hard work and time on something that will not last that long. If that do happen then the person will be upset and soon become depressed about their wrongful decision. In my opinion I thought this Article was very interesting to read. I saw myself reading and thinking that I do the exact same thing I am reading about. I am a online shopper never go to the store and shop, but I tend to start site hopping. Which is simply me going from site to site trying to find the best choice or the best value. At first I didn’t know they gave people who find the better item and people who settle a name. I also tend to try to put my all in something I expect to last quite a while Example, I wanted the new Ipod touch, but it cause 300 with everything, now I sacrificed going out, getting fast food, and limiting my spending. Now the only reason I did that is because I expect the iPod to last for a long time now, but if it was to last for a couple of weeks or months then I would not have done all of that. Overall this article was a well put together article in which I learned a lot of information from that I can use later in life, it also explained a lot of thi ngs in my life at this time. In conclusion, â€Å"As the number of choices we face increase, the psychological benefits we derive start to level of†(Schwartz,2004 ,pg75) It seems like the more choices you are faced day by day the more it will start to bother your emotions and feelings. You are faced with so many choices on a day to day basis, and you try our to make the â€Å"ideal choice†. At the same time your mind may drift off and say â€Å"What if I chose this or that† then the pressure increase. This article was to help you realize somethings about yourself. Also it was something that would help you better yourself in the years to come. References Schwartz, B. (2004, April). The tyranny of choice. Scientific American, 290(4), 70-75.