Today I read an interesting article from the Art of Manliness (see below) its very interesting to me, limiting choices and making commitments (like religious ones, which most of the time limit choices for you) might end up making you happier… This makes you think of the economic principle of opportunity cost, and how choices are bad (see the stand up economist, and the snickers bar argument). Choices are good of course, but if people are “stupid” and “irrational” we might get stressed out by so many choices, bounded rationality and herding (too many choices to accurately think about the costs of each, and things like peer pressure) definitley affect our decision making too, they might have a bigger impact than rational cost-benefit analysis in stress situations too. So check out the links, have a think and chime in if you have any thoughts…
AoM: Paradox of Choice
http://artofmanliness.com/2009/09/20/paradox-of-choice/
The Standup Economist:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVp8UGjECt4
To be, or not to be: that is the question…