Paradox of Choice
The freedom to make choices and decisions makes people happy because it gives them a sense of being in control of their lives.However, the fact that having some choice is good does not mean that having more choice is necessarily better, since having too many choices can cause anxiety and dissatisfaction.The main reason for this is that as the number of options available to us increases, the effort required to make a good decision increases as well. This phenomenon has been termed the paradox of choice:we like having choices and think that having more choices should please us;but instead, it causes us distress.
听力材料：
Now listen to a lecture on this topic in a psychology class.
Okay, here's an example. Last week I went shopping for a pair of jeans. I hadn't bought jeans in years. And boy was I in for a surprise. You see, all I wanted was regular jeans. But when I told this to the salesperson, he looked at me as though I were from Mars. He explained, I could choose between five different styles, straight or baggy, and I don't know what else and a dozen colors. And on top of that, did I want buttons or zipper? Now, it used to be there were only a couple of jeans types, and it was easy for me to decide what I wanted. Now, with all these different possibilities, shopping was hard. I went back and forth. This pair was really comfortable. But this other one was the most fashionable. And there were at least four different colors that looked really good. Finally, I did settle on one, but what used to take five minutes had turned into a 2-hour project. Before the choice was basically dark blue or light blue, period. Maybe the fit wasn't perfect, but deciding was easy. But now, now I had a complex and time consuming problem on my hands. Plus, all the back and forth actually gave me a headache. Was I making the right decision? How could I be sure? Sure, it was only a pair of jeans, but I left the store anxious rather than satisfied with my purchase.
Question：
Explain what is meant by “the paradox of choice,”using the example mentioned by the professor.
