The Cost of More: Psychology of Choice in Interaction Design

摘要

There has always been a difficult balance in the amount of choice offered to consumers. Too little choice means a store may be omitting services or products important to some users (and worse still, that a competitor might include). Too much choice adds complexity with increased potential for confusing or frustrating potential purchasers. This may sound like a big enough challenge to cope with, but according to Barry Schwartz, the author of The Paradox of Choice, the difficulty I have just described is only the tip of the iceberg. While Schwartz deals primarily with choice outside the digital world, I believe that too much choice and how it is presented to users can have serious implications for the Web.