“The Art of Choosing”:  Why America’s decision-obsession isn’t always for the best

To most Americans the idea of an arranged marriage sounds not only bizarre, but fundamentally wrong. How could you let someone else decide the person you’re going to be spending the rest of your life with? But as Sheena Iyengar describes in her new book, The Art of Choosing, arranged marriage has been the norm in many parts of the world for 5,000 years—including in the Sikh community in which her parents were married—and our opposition to the idea says a great deal about the ways in which culture and history have shaped the way Americans think about personal choice.

Iyengar, who grew up in Sikh enclaves in New York and New Jersey, is now a professor of business at Columbia University and one of the country’s leading researchers on decision making. In The Art of Choosing, a broad and fascinating survey of current research on the subject, Iyengar stitches together personal anecdotes, examples from popular culture, and scientific evidence to explain the complex calculus that goes into our everyday choices, from picking our favorite soda to choosing our medical insurance. She also writes about the ways in which her blindness—Iyengar lost her sight as a teenager—has given her a unique perspective on the subject.

Salon spoke to Iyengar over the phone about how ballot order cost Al Gore the 2000 election and how a blind researcher learns about color.

Why did you become so interested in researching the way people make choices?

When I was very young, my background as a Sikh-American made me aware of the tensions that underlie choice. Being a Sikh meant having to do what Mom and Dad said, and going to temple, and Mom and Dad choosing who I would marry. But going to an American school taught me that I was the one who’s supposed to make those choices. There was the constant tension between following my duties and giving in to my preferences. I was becoming aware of the fact that different cultures provide different scripts about choice.

What expectations people bring to choice is one of the dominant themes of my research, along with the idea that choice has its limitations: When I was going blind, questions were constantly being thrown at me. Will she be able to go to school by herself? How is she going to survive? What can she do and not do? It constantly reminded me that there are limits to what choice can offer.  Read Article

By Thomas Rogers