TEDGlobal 2005
Barry Schwartz: The paradox of choice
Barry Schwartz om valgets paradoks
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Psykolog Barry Schwartz tager sigte efter en central grundsætning i vestlige samfund: valgfrihed. Ifølge Schwartz's vurdering, har valgfrihed ikke gjort os mere frie, men mere handlingslammede, ikke lykkeligere men mere utilfredse.
Barry Schwartz - Psychologist
Barry Schwartz studies the link between economics and psychology, offering startling insights into modern life. Lately, working with Ken Sharpe, he's studying wisdom. Full bio
Barry Schwartz studies the link between economics and psychology, offering startling insights into modern life. Lately, working with Ken Sharpe, he's studying wisdom. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:25
I'm going to talk to you about some stuff that's in this book of mine
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Jeg vil tale om nogle ting der er i en bog jeg har skrevet
00:28
that I hope will resonate with other things you've already heard,
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som jeg håber vil give genlyd med andre ting I allerede har hørt,
00:31
and I'll try to make some connections myself, in case you miss them.
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og jeg vil prøve på at lave nogle forbindelser selv, i det tilfælde I skulle misse dem.
00:35
I want to start with what I call the "official dogma."
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Jeg vil starte med det jeg kalder det "officielle dogme".
00:39
The official dogma of what?
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Det officielle dogme af hvad?
00:41
The official dogma of all western industrial societies.
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Det officielle dogme som alle samfund i vesten har.
00:45
And the official dogma runs like this:
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Og det officielle dogme lyder sådan her:
00:47
if we are interested in maximizing the welfare of our citizens,
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Hvis vi er interesserede i at maksimere vores borgeres velfærd,
00:51
the way to do that is to maximize individual freedom.
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er måden at gøre det på, ved at maksimere individets frihed.
00:57
The reason for this is both that freedom is in and of itself good,
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Grunden til det er, at frihed i sig selv er godt,
01:02
valuable, worthwhile, essential to being human.
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værdifuldt, umagen værd, essentielt til det at være et menneske.
01:05
And because if people have freedom,
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Og fordi mennesker har frihed,
01:08
then each of us can act on our own
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så kan vi hver især handle for sig selv
01:10
to do the things that will maximize our welfare,
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til at gøre ting der maksimerer vores velfærd,
01:12
and no one has to decide on our behalf.
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og der er ingen der skal bestemme noget for os.
01:16
The way to maximize freedom is to maximize choice.
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Måden til at maksimere frihed er at maksimere valg.
01:21
The more choice people have, the more freedom they have,
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Jo flere valg mennesker har, jo mere frihed har de,
01:24
and the more freedom they have,
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og jo mere frihed de har,
01:26
the more welfare they have.
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jo mere velfærd har de.
01:29
This, I think, is so deeply embedded in the water supply
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Det, mener jeg, er så grundliggende i modermælken
01:34
that it wouldn't occur to anyone to question it.
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at det ikke ville strejfe nogen at sætte spørgsmålstegn ved det.
01:37
And it's also deeply embedded in our lives.
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Og det er også grundliggende i vores liv.
01:42
I'll give you some examples of what modern progress has made possible for us.
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Jeg vil give jer nogle eksempler på hvad moderne fremskridt har gjort for os.
01:48
This is my supermarket. Not such a big one.
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Dette er mit supermarked. Ikke så stort.
01:52
I want to say just a word about salad dressing.
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Jeg vil bare sige et par ord om salat dressing.
01:54
175 salad dressings in my supermarket,
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175 forskellige slags salat dressing i mit supermarked.
01:57
if you don't count the 10 extra-virgin olive oils
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Hvis man ikke tæller de 10 ekstra jomfru oliven olier med
02:00
and 12 balsamic vinegars you could buy
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og de 12 balsamiske eddiker man kan købe
02:03
to make a very large number of your own salad dressings,
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til at lave en meget stor del af ens egen salat dressinger,
02:06
in the off-chance that none of the 175 the store has on offer suit you.
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for det usandsynlige tilfælde, at ingen af de 175 som supermarked kan tilbyde tilfredsstiller en.
02:11
So this is what the supermarket is like.
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Så det er sådan supermarkedet er.
02:13
And then you go to the consumer electronics store to set up a stereo system --
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Og så går man til forbrugerelektronik forretningen, for at købe et stereoanlæg --
02:17
speakers, CD player, tape player, tuner, amplifier --
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højtalere, cd afspillere, båndoptagere, radioer, forstærkere --
02:21
and in this one single consumer electronics store,
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og i denne ene forbrugerelektronikkæde,
02:25
there are that many stereo systems.
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er der så mange stereoanlæg.
02:29
We can construct six-and-a-half-million different stereo systems
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Vi kan sammensætte seks og en halv million forskellige stereoanlæg
02:34
out of the components that are on offer in one store.
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fra de komponenter som denne forretning tilbyder.
02:37
You've got to admit that's a lot of choice.
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Det må siges at være mange valgmuligheder.
02:39
In other domains -- the world of communications.
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På andre områder -- kommunikationsverden.
02:43
There was a time, when I was a boy,
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Der var en gang, da jeg var dreng,
02:45
when you could get any kind of telephone service you wanted,
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at man kunne få et hvilket som helst telefonabonnement man ville have,
02:48
as long as it came from Ma Bell.
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bare det kom fra Ma Bell.
02:50
You rented your phone. You didn't buy it.
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Man lejede sin telefon. Man købte den ikke.
02:52
One consequence of that, by the way, is that the phone never broke.
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En af konsekvenserne ved det var, forresten, er at telefonen aldrig gik i stykker.
02:55
And those days are gone.
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Og den tid er forbi.
02:58
We now have an almost unlimited variety of phones,
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Nu har vi et nærmest ubegrænset udvalg af telefoner,
03:01
especially in the world of cell phones.
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specielt i mobiltelefon verden.
03:03
These are cell phones of the future.
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Dette er fremtidens mobiltelefoner.
03:06
My favorite is the middle one --
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Min favorit er den i midten --
03:08
the MP3 player, nose hair trimmer, and creme brulee torch.
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MP3 afspilleren, næsehårstrimmer, og creme brulee brænder.
03:12
And if by some chance you haven't seen that in your store yet,
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Og hvis I tilfældigvis ikke skulle have set den i jeres forretning endnu,
03:18
you can rest assured that one day soon you will.
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kan I være sikre på at den nok skal komme snart.
03:20
And what this does is
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Og hvad det gør er,
03:22
it leads people to walk into their stores asking this question.
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at det får folk til at gå ind til deres forretning og stille dette spørgsmål,
03:26
And do you know what the answer to this question now is?
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Og ved I allerede hvad svaret på dette spørgsmål er?
03:28
The answer is "No."
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Svaret er, "Nej".
03:30
It is not possible to buy a cell phone that doesn't do too much.
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Det er ikke muligt at købe en mobiltelefon, der kan for meget.
03:34
So, in other aspects of life that are much more significant than buying things,
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Så, i livets andre aspekter der er meget vigtigere end at købe ting,
03:39
the same explosion of choice is true.
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er der kommet den samme eksplosion af valgmuligheder.
03:43
Health care -- it is no longer the case in the United States
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Sundshedsvæsnet -- det er ikke længere sådan i USA,
03:47
that you go to the doctor, and the doctor tells you what to do.
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at man tager til lægen, og lægen siger hvad man skal gøre.
03:50
Instead, you go to the doctor,
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I stedet for, tager man til lægen,
03:52
and the doctor tells you, "Well, we could do A, or we could do B.
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og lægen siger, "Jamen, vi kan gøre A, vi kan gøre B.
03:55
A has these benefits, and these risks.
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A har disse fordele, og disse risici.
03:58
B has these benefits, and these risks. What do you want to do?"
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B har disse fordele, og disse risici. Hvad synes du vi skal gøre?"
04:02
And you say, "Doc, what should I do?"
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Og man siger, "Doktor, hvad skal jeg gøre?"
04:05
And the doc says, "A has these benefits and risks, and B has these benefits and risks.
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Og lægen siger, "A har disse fordele og risici, B har disse fordele og risici.
04:09
What do you want to do?"
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Hvad synes du vi skal gøre?"
04:12
And you say, "If you were me, Doc, what would you do?"
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Og man siger, "Hvis du var mig Doktor, hvad ville du så gøre?"
04:15
And the doc says, "But I'm not you."
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Og lægen siger, "Jamen jeg er ikke dig".
04:19
And the result is -- we call it "patient autonomy,"
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Og resultatet er -- vi kalder det "patient selvstændighed".
04:22
which makes it sound like a good thing,
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hvilket får det til at lyde som en god ting,
04:24
but what it really is is a shifting of the burden and the responsibility
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men hvad det virkelig betyder er, at byrden og ansvaret for
04:26
for decision-making from somebody who knows something --
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beslutningen skifter fra en person der ved noget --
04:29
namely, the doctor --
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nemlig lægen --
04:30
to somebody who knows nothing and is almost certainly sick
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til en person der ingenting ved og næsten med sikkerhed er syg
04:33
and thus not in the best shape to be making decisions --
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og derfor ikke i den bedste tilstand til at tage nogen beslutninger --
04:36
namely, the patient.
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nemlig patienten.
04:38
There's enormous marketing of prescription drugs
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Der er et enormt marked for receptpligtig medicin
04:41
to people like you and me,
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og mennesker som dig om mig,
04:42
which, if you think about it, makes no sense at all,
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som, hvis man tænker over det, overhovedet ikke giver nogen mening,
04:44
since we can't buy them.
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siden vi ikke kan købe dem.
04:46
Why do they market to us if we can't buy them?
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Hvorfor markedsfører de dem til os, hvis vi ikke kan købe dem?
04:48
The answer is that they expect us to call our doctors the next morning
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Svaret er, at de forventer at vi ringer til lægen dagen efter
04:52
and ask for our prescriptions to be changed.
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og spørger om vi kan få ændret vores recept.
04:56
Something as dramatic as our identity
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Noget så vigtigt som vores identitet
05:00
has now become a matter of choice,
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er nu blevet et spørgsmål om valg,
05:02
as this slide is meant to indicate.
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som denne slide viser.
05:06
We don't inherit an identity; we get to invent it.
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Vi arver ikke en identitet; vi får lov til at opfinde den.
05:08
And we get to re-invent ourselves as often as we like.
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Og vi får lov til at genopfinde os selv, så tit som vi har lyst til.
05:12
And that means that everyday, when you wake up in the morning,
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Og det betyder, at hver dag når man vågner om morgenen,
05:14
you have to decide what kind of person you want to be.
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kan man vælge hvilken person man har lyst til at være.
05:19
With respect to marriage and family,
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Al respekt for ægteskabet og familien,
05:22
there was a time when the default assumption that almost everyone had
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der var en gang hvor den normale holdning som alle havde
05:28
is that you got married as soon as you could,
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var, at man blev gift så snart man kunne,
05:29
and then you started having kids as soon as you could.
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og så begyndte man at få børn så snart man kunne.
05:31
The only real choice was who,
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Det eneste rigtige valg var hvem,
05:35
not when, and not what you did after.
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ikke hvornår, og ikke hvad man gjorde bagefter.
05:38
Nowadays, everything is very much up for grabs.
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Nu til dags, er alting til utrolig meget op til en selv.
05:41
I teach wonderfully intelligent students,
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Jeg underviser utrolig intelligente studerende,
05:44
and I assign 20 percent less work than I used to.
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og jeg uddeler 20 procent mindre arbejde end jeg plejede.
05:47
And it's not because they're less smart,
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Og det er ikke fordi de er mindre kloge,
05:50
and it's not because they're less diligent.
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og det er ikke fordi de ikke er lige så flittige.
05:52
It's because they are preoccupied, asking themselves,
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Det er fordi de har travlt med at spørge sig selv,
05:56
"Should I get married or not? Should I get married now?
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"Skulle jeg blive gift eller ej? Skulle jeg blive gift nu?
05:58
Should I get married later? Should I have kids first, or a career first?"
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Skulle jeg blive gift senere? Skulle jeg have børn først, eller en karriere først?"
06:02
All of these are consuming questions.
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Alle den slags opslugende spørgsmål.
06:05
And they're going to answer these questions,
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Og de kommer til at svare på disse spørgsmål,
06:07
whether or not it means not doing all the work I assign
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uanset om det betyder at de ikke kommer til at lave alt det arbejde jeg har delt ud eller ej,
06:09
and not getting a good grade in my courses.
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og derfor ikke få en god karakter i mine fag.
06:12
And indeed they should. These are important questions to answer.
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Og det burde de også. Det er vigtige spørgsmål at svare på.
06:17
Work -- we are blessed, as Carl was pointing out,
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Arbejde -- vi er velsignede, som Carl sagde,
06:20
with the technology that enables us
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med den teknologi der gør os i stand til
06:22
to work every minute of every day from any place on the planet --
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at arbejde hvert minut af hver dag, fra hvilket som helst sted i verden --
06:29
except the Randolph Hotel.
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bortset fra Randolph Hotel.
06:31
(Laughter)
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(Latter)
06:36
There is one corner, by the way,
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Der er et hjørne, forresten,
06:38
that I'm not going to tell anybody about, where the WiFi works.
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som jeg ikke fortæller nogen om, hvor WiFi virker.
06:43
I'm not telling you about it because I want to use it.
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Jeg vil ikke fortælle jeg hvor, for jeg vil selv bruge det.
06:45
So what this means, this incredible freedom of choice
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Så hvad det her betyder, denne enorme valgfrihed
06:48
we have with respect to work, is that we have to make a decision,
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vi har med henblik på arbejde, er at vi skal træffe et valg,
06:51
again and again and again,
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igen og igen og igen,
06:53
about whether we should or shouldn't be working.
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om hvorvidt vi skulle arbejde eller ikke skulle arbejde.
06:56
We can go to watch our kid play soccer,
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Vi kan se vores barn spille fodbold,
06:59
and we have our cell phone on one hip,
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og vi kan have vores mobiltelefon på den ene hofte,
07:01
and our Blackberry on our other hip,
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og vores Blackberry på den anden hofte,
07:03
and our laptop, presumably, on our laps.
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og vores bærbare, formodentlig, på vores lår.
07:05
And even if they're all shut off,
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Og selvom de alle er slukket,
07:08
every minute that we're watching our kid mutilate a soccer game,
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hvert eneste minut vi ser vores barn skamfere fodboldsporten,
07:10
we are also asking ourselves,
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spørger vi også os selv,
07:12
"Should I answer this cell phone call?
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"Skulle jeg besvare dette opkald?
07:15
Should I respond to this email? Should I draft this letter?"
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Skulle jeg svare på denne mail? Skulle jeg lave et udkast til dette brev?"
07:17
And even if the answer to the question is "no,"
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Og selvom svaret på spørgsmålet er "nej",
07:20
it's certainly going to make the experience of your kid's soccer game
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vil det helt sikkert ændre oplevelsen af vores barns fodboldkamp
07:23
very different than it would've been.
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til noget helt andet end det ellers ville have været.
07:26
So everywhere we look,
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Så uanset hvor vi ser hen,
07:28
big things and small things, material things and lifestyle things,
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store ting og små ting, materielle ting og livstilsting,
07:31
life is a matter of choice.
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livet handler om valg.
07:34
And the world we used to live in looked like this.
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Og verden vi plejede at leve i, så sådan her ud.
07:40
That is to say, there were some choices,
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Det vil sige, at der var nogle valg der skulle træffes,
07:42
but not everything was a matter of choice.
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men ikke alt handlede om valg.
07:44
And the world we now live in looks like this.
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Og den verden vi lever i nu, ser sådan her ud.
07:47
And the question is, is this good news, or bad news?
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Og spørgsmålet er, er det godt nyt, eller dårligt nyt?
07:53
And the answer is yes.
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Og svaret er ja.
07:56
(Laughter)
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(Latter)
07:58
We all know what's good about it,
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Vi ved alle hvad der er godt ved den,
08:00
so I'm going to talk about what's bad about it.
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så jeg vil tale om, hvad der er dårligt ved den.
08:03
All of this choice has two effects,
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Alle disse valg har to sideeffekter,
08:06
two negative effects on people.
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to negative sideeffekter på mennesker.
08:09
One effect, paradoxically,
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En siddeeffekt, paradoksalt nok,
08:11
is that it produces paralysis, rather than liberation.
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er at det forårsager handlingslammelse, frem for frihed.
08:16
With so many options to choose from,
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Når der er så mange valgmuligheder at vælge i mellem,
08:18
people find it very difficult to choose at all.
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synes mennesker det er meget svært at vælge noget i det hele taget.
08:22
I'll give you one very dramatic example of this:
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Jeg vil give jer nogle meget dramatiske eksempler på dette:
08:25
a study that was done of investments in voluntary retirement plans.
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der er lavet et studie over investeringer i frivillige pensionsordninger.
08:31
A colleague of mine got access to investment records from Vanguard,
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En af mine kolleger fik adgang til investeringsoversigter fra Vanguard,
08:36
the gigantic mutual fund company
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det gigantiske investeringsselskab
08:38
of about a million employees and about 2,000 different workplaces.
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med cirka en million ansatte og cirka 2.000 forskellige arbejdspladser.
08:42
And what she found is that
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Og det hun fandt ud af var,
08:44
for every 10 mutual funds the employer offered,
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at for hver 10 investeringsselskab som arbejdsgiveren tilbød,
08:47
rate of participation went down two percent.
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faldt deltagelsen med to procent.
08:52
You offer 50 funds -- 10 percent fewer employees participate
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Så man tilbyder 50 fonde -- 10 procent færre ansatte deltager
08:56
than if you only offer five. Why?
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end hvis man kun tilbyder fem. Hvorfor?
09:00
Because with 50 funds to choose from,
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Fordi med 50 fonde at vælge i mellem,
09:02
it's so damn hard to decide which fund to choose
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er det så forbandet svært at vælge hvilken fond man skal tage
09:06
that you'll just put it off until tomorrow.
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at man bare udskyder det til i morgen.
09:08
And then tomorrow, and then tomorrow,
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Og så i morgen, og så i morgen,
09:10
and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
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og i morgen, og i morgen,
09:12
and of course tomorrow never comes.
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og selvfølgelig kommer i morgen aldrig.
09:14
Understand that not only does this mean
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Og dette betyder ikke kun
09:16
that people are going to have to eat dog food when they retire
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at mennesker kommer til at spise hundemad når de går på pension
09:18
because they don't have enough money put away,
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fordi de ikke har sparet nok penge sammen,
09:20
it also means that making the decision is so hard
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det betyder også at beslutningen er så svær,
09:23
that they pass up significant matching money from the employer.
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at de siger nej tak til en anseelig pengesum fra arbejdsgiveren.
09:27
By not participating, they are passing up as much as 5,000 dollars a year
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Ved ikke at deltage, siger de nej tak til op til 5.000 dollars om året,
09:31
from the employer, who would happily match their contribution.
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fra deres arbejdsgiver, der gladeligt vil matche deres bidrag.
09:35
So paralysis is a consequence of having too many choices.
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Så handlingslammelse er en af konsekvenserne ved at have for mange valgmuligheder.
09:39
And I think it makes the world look like this.
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Og jeg mener det får verden til at se sådan ud.
09:41
(Laughter)
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(Latter)
09:48
You really want to get the decision right if it's for all eternity, right?
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Man vil virkelig gerne sørge for at træffe den rigtige beslutning, hvis den gælder i al evighed, ikke?
09:52
You don't want to pick the wrong mutual fund, or even the wrong salad dressing.
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Man vil ikke vælge den forkerte fond, eller selv den forkerte salat dressing.
09:55
So that's one effect. The second effect is that
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Så det er en effekt. Den anden effekt er, at
09:58
even if we manage to overcome the paralysis and make a choice,
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selv hvis vi kan overkomme handlingslammelsen og træffe et valg,
10:03
we end up less satisfied with the result of the choice
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ender vi med at være mindre tilfredse med valget
10:07
than we would be if we had fewer options to choose from.
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end vi ville have været, hvis der havde været færre valgmuligheder at vælge i mellem.
10:10
And there are several reasons for this.
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Og det er der adskillige grunde til.
10:13
One of them is that with a lot of different salad dressings to choose from,
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En af dem er, at med alle de salatdressinger at vælge i mellem,
10:17
if you buy one, and it's not perfect -- and, you know, what salad dressing is? --
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hvis man køber en, og den ikke er perfekt -- og, I ved, hvilken salat dressing er det? --
10:20
it's easy to imagine that you could have made a different choice
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er det nemt at forestille sig at man kunne have træffet et andet valg
10:23
that would have been better. And what happens is
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der ville have været bedre. Og det der sker er,
10:27
this imagined alternative induces you to regret the decision you made,
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at dette forestillede alternativ får en til at fortryde den beslutning man har truffet,
10:32
and this regret subtracts from the satisfaction you get out of the decision you made,
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og denne fortrydelse fjerner glæden man får ud af det valg man har truffet,
10:36
even if it was a good decision.
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selv om det var et godt valg.
10:39
The more options there are, the easier it is to regret anything at all
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Jo flere valgmuligheder der er, jo nemmere er det at fortryde noget som helst
10:42
that is disappointing about the option that you chose.
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der er skuffende ved den valgmulighed man valgte.
10:45
Second, what economists call "opportunity costs."
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For det andet, det økonomer kalder "alternativ omkostninger".
10:48
Dan Gilbert made a big point this morning
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Dan Gilbert fremhævede en stor pointe denne morgen
10:50
of talking about how much the way in which we value things
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ved at tale meget om den måde hvorpå vi værdisætter ting
10:55
depends on what we compare them to.
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afhænger af hvad vi sammenligner dem med.
10:57
Well, when there are lots of alternatives to consider,
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Jamen, når der er mange alternativer at tage i betragtning,
11:01
it is easy to imagine the attractive features
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er det nemt at forestille sig attraktive sider
11:04
of alternatives that you reject,
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af de alternativer man afviser,
11:07
that make you less satisfied with the alternative that you've chosen.
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der gør at man er mindre glad for det alternativ man har valgt.
11:12
Here's an example. For those of you who aren't New Yorkers, I apologize.
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Her er et eksempel. Jeg undskylder overfor jer der ikke er New Yorkere.
11:16
(Laughter)
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(Latter)
11:17
But here's what you're supposed to be thinking.
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Men her er det I skal forestille Jer.
11:19
Here's this couple on the Hamptons.
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Her er et par fra Hamptons.
11:21
Very expensive real estate.
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Meget dyr ejendom.
11:23
Gorgeous beach. Beautiful day. They have it all to themselves.
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Dejlig strand. Smuk dag. De har det hele for sig selv.
11:26
What could be better? "Well, damn it,"
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Hvad kunne være bedre? "Jamen, for fanden,"
11:28
this guy is thinking, "It's August.
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tænker denne fyr, "Det er august.
11:30
Everybody in my Manhattan neighborhood is away.
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Alle i mit nabolag i Manhattan er væk.
11:34
I could be parking right in front of my building."
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Jeg kunne parkere lige foran min hoveddør lige nu".
11:38
And he spends two weeks nagged by the idea
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Og han bruger to uger på at være naget af ideen om,
11:41
that he is missing the opportunity, day after day, to have a great parking space.
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at han går glip af muligheden for, dag efter dag, at have en fed parkeringsplads.
11:48
Opportunity costs subtract from the satisfaction we get out of what we choose,
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Alternativ omkostninger fjerner noget af glæden vi får ud af det vi vælger,
11:52
even when what we choose is terrific.
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selv når det vi vælger er fantastisk.
11:55
And the more options there are to consider,
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Og jo flere valgmuligheder der er at tage i betragtning,
11:57
the more attractive features of these options
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jo mere attraktive egenskaberne af disse valgmuligheder er
11:59
are going to be reflected by us as opportunity costs.
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vil blive afspejlet af os som alternativ omkostninger.
12:03
Here's another example.
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Her er et andet eksempel.
12:09
Now this cartoon makes a lot of points.
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Denne vittighedstegning understreger nogle gode pointer.
12:11
It makes points about living in the moment as well,
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Den viser points om at leve i nuet,
12:15
and probably about doing things slowly.
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og sikkert om at gøre tingene langsomt.
12:17
But one point it makes is that whenever you're choosing one thing,
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Men en pointe den fremsætter er, at hver gang man vælger en ting,
12:20
you're choosing not to do other things.
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vælger man ikke at gøre andre ting.
12:22
And those other things may have lots of attractive features,
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Og de andre ting har måske mange attraktive egenskaber
12:24
and it's going to make what you're doing less attractive.
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og det kommer til at gøre det man vælger mindre attraktivt.
12:27
Third: escalation of expectations.
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For det tredje: optrapning af forventninger.
12:29
This hit me when I went to replace my jeans.
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Det slog mig da jeg ville erstatte mine cowboybukser.
12:32
I wear jeans almost all the time.
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Jeg har næsten altid cowboybukser på.
12:34
And there was a time when jeans came in one flavor,
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Og der var engang, hvor cowboybukser så ud på en bestemt måde,
12:37
and you bought them, and they fit like crap,
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og man købte dem, og de passede af helvede til,
12:39
and they were incredibly uncomfortable,
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og de var utrolig ubehagelige,
12:41
and if you wore them long enough and washed them enough times,
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og hvis man gik med dem i lang nok tid og vaskede dem nok gange,
12:43
they started to feel OK.
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begyndte de at sidde ok.
12:45
So I went to replace my jeans after years and years of wearing these old ones,
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Så jeg ville erstatte mine cowboybukser efter i årevis at have gået med de samme,
12:48
and I said, you know, "I want a pair of jeans. Here's my size."
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og jeg sagde, I ved, "Jeg vil have et par cowboybukser. Det her er min størrelse".
12:51
And the shopkeeper said,
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Og butiksindehaveren sagde,
12:52
"Do you want slim fit, easy fit, relaxed fit?
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"Vil du have slim fit, easy fit, relaxed fit?
12:55
You want button fly or zipper fly? You want stonewashed or acid-washed?
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Vil du have gylp eller lynlås? Vil du have stenvaskede eller syrevaskede?
12:58
Do you want them distressed?
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Vil du have dem nervøse?
13:00
You want boot cut, you want tapered, blah blah blah ..." On and on he went.
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Vil du have dem ned til skoen, vil du have dem tilspidset, bla bla bla .." Han blev ved og ved.
13:03
My jaw dropped, and after I recovered, I said,
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Jeg tabte kæben og efter jeg kom mig sagde jeg,
13:06
"I want the kind that used to be the only kind."
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"Jeg vil have den slags, der plejede at være den eneste slags".
13:09
(Laughter)
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(Latter)
13:14
He had no idea what that was,
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Han havde ingen anelse om hvad det var,
13:16
so I spent an hour trying on all these damn jeans,
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så jeg brugte en time på at prøve alle disse forbandende cowboybukser,
13:20
and I walked out of the store -- truth! -- with the best-fitting jeans I had ever had.
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og jeg gik ud af butikken -- sandt! -- med de bedst siddende cowboybukser jeg nogensinde har haft.
13:25
I did better. All this choice made it possible for me to do better.
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Jeg fik noget bedre. Alle disse valgmuligheder gjorde det muligt for mig at få noget bedre.
13:29
But I felt worse.
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Men jeg havde det dårligere.
13:33
Why? I wrote a whole book to try to explain this to myself. (Laughter)
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Hvorfor? Jeg skrev en hel bog for at prøve at forklare det for mig selv. (Latter)
13:37
The reason I felt worse is that,
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Grunden til at jeg havde det dårligere var, at
13:45
with all of these options available,
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med alle disse valgmuligheder,
13:48
my expectations about how good a pair of jeans should be went up.
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var mine forventninger om hvad et par gode cowboybukser var, gik op.
13:54
I had very low --
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Jeg havde meget lave --
13:55
I had no particular expectations when they only came in one flavor.
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jeg havde ikke nogen specielle forventninger da de kun kom i en variant.
13:58
When they came in 100 flavors, damn it,
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Da de udkom i 100 varianter, for dælen,
14:00
one of them should've been perfect.
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en af dem burde være perfekt.
14:02
And what I got was good, but it wasn't perfect.
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Og det jeg fik var godt, men det var ikke perfekt.
14:04
And so I compared what I got to what I expected,
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Så jeg sammenlignede det jeg fik, med det jeg forventede,
14:07
and what I got was disappointing in comparison to what I expected.
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og hvad jeg fik var skuffende, i forhold til hvad jeg havde forventet.
14:10
Adding options to people's lives
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At tilføje valgmuligheder til menneskers liv
14:13
can't help but increase the expectations people have
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kan kun forøge de forventninger mennesker har
14:17
about how good those options will be.
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om hvor gode disse valgmuligheder er.
14:19
And what that's going to produce is less satisfaction with results,
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Og hvad det kommer til at betyde, er mindre tilfredshed med resultaterne,
14:22
even when they're good results.
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selv når det er gode resultater.
14:25
Nobody in the world of marketing knows this,
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Ingen i marketingsverden ved dette,
14:28
because if they did, you wouldn't all know what this was about.
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fordi hvis de gjorde, ville I ikke allesammen vide hvad det handler om.
14:34
The truth is more like this.
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Sandheden er, det ligner det her mere.
14:37
(Laughter)
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(Latter)
14:40
The reason that everything was better back when everything was worse
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Grunden til at alt var bedre dengang alt var værre
14:44
is that when everything was worse,
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er at dengang alt var værre,
14:46
it was actually possible for people to have experiences that were a pleasant surprise.
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var det faktisk muligt for mennesker at have oplevelser, der var en behagelig overraskelse.
14:51
Nowadays, the world we live in -- we affluent, industrialized citizens,
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Nu til dags, den verden vi lever i -- vi velstående, industrialiserede borgere,
14:55
with perfection the expectation --
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hvor perfektion er forventningen --
14:57
the best you can ever hope for is that stuff is as good as you expect it to be.
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det bedste man kan håbe på, er at ting er lige så gode som man forventer de er.
15:01
You will never be pleasantly surprised
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Man vil aldrig få en behagelig overraskelse
15:03
because your expectations, my expectations, have gone through the roof.
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fordi ens forventninger, mine forventninger, er røget i vejret.
15:07
The secret to happiness -- this is what you all came for --
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Hemmeligheden bag lykke -- det her er hvad I alle kom efter --
15:10
the secret to happiness is low expectations.
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hemmeligheden bag lykke er lave forventninger.
15:16
(Laughter)
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(Latter)
15:18
(Applause)
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(Bifald)
15:24
I want to say -- just a little autobiographical moment --
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Jeg vil sige -- bare et lille selvbiografisk øjeblik --
15:28
that I actually am married to a wife,
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at jeg faktisk er gift med en kone,
15:31
and she's really quite wonderful.
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og hun er faktisk ret vidunderlig.
15:33
I couldn't have done better. I didn't settle.
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Jeg kunne ikke have gjort det bedre. Jeg nøjedes ikke.
15:36
But settling isn't always such a bad thing.
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Men at nøjedes er ikke altid så dårligt.
15:39
Finally, one consequence of buying a bad-fitting pair of jeans
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Til sidst, en af konsekvenserne af at købe et dårligt par passende cowboybukser
15:44
when there is only one kind to buy
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når der kun findes en variant man kan at købe
15:47
is that when you are dissatisfied, and you ask why,
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er, at når man er utilfreds, og man spørger hvorfor,
15:49
who's responsible, the answer is clear:
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hvem er ansvarlig, er svaret tydeligt:
15:51
the world is responsible. What could you do?
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verden er ansvarlig. Hvad kan man gøre?
15:54
When there are hundreds of different styles of jeans available,
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Når der er hundredvis af forskellige stile af cowboybukser at vælge mellem,
15:57
and you buy one that is disappointing,
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og man køber et par der er utilfredsstillende,
16:00
and you ask why, who's responsible?
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og man spørger hvorfor, hvem er ansvarlig?
16:02
It is equally clear that the answer to the question is you.
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Det er lige så tydeligt at svaret på spørgsmålet er en selv.
16:07
You could have done better.
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Man kunne selv have gjort det bedre.
16:09
With a hundred different kinds of jeans on display,
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Men hundredvis af forskellige cowboybukser i udstilling,
16:12
there is no excuse for failure.
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er der ikke nogen undskyldning for fiasko.
16:14
And so when people make decisions,
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Så når mennesker tager beslutninger,
16:16
and even though the results of the decisions are good,
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og selvom resultatet af beslutningen er godt,
16:19
they feel disappointed about them;
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føler dig sig skuffede over dem;
16:22
they blame themselves.
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de bebrejder sig selv.
16:24
Clinical depression has exploded in the industrial world in the last generation.
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Kliniske depressioner er eksploderede i den industrialiserede verden blandt den seneste generation.
16:28
I believe a significant -- not the only, but a significant -- contributor
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Jeg mener en betydningsfuld -- ikke den eneste, men en betydningsfuld -- medvirkende årsag
16:32
to this explosion of depression, and also suicide,
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til denne eksplosion af depression, og også selvmord,
16:35
is that people have experiences that are disappointing
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er at mennesker har oplevelser der er skuffende
16:38
because their standards are so high,
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fordi deres standard er så høj,
16:40
and then when they have to explain these experiences to themselves,
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at når de skal forklare disse oplevelser overfor sig selv,
16:43
they think they're at fault.
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så tror de at det er deres skyld.
16:45
And so the net result is that we do better in general, objectively,
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Så nettoresultatet er, at vi generelt gør det bedre, objektivt set,
16:49
and we feel worse.
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og vi har det dårligere.
16:52
So let me remind you.
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Så lad mig påminde jer.
16:55
This is the official dogma, the one that we all take to be true,
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Dette er det officielle dogme, det som vi alle ser som værende sandt,
16:59
and it's all false. It is not true.
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og det er alt sammen forkert. Det er ikke sandt.
17:03
There's no question that some choice is better than none,
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Der er ikke nogen tvivl om, at nogen valgmulighed er bedre end ingen,
17:07
but it doesn't follow from that that more choice is better than some choice.
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men det betyder ikke at flere valgmuligheder er bedre end nogen valgmulighed.
17:12
There's some magical amount. I don't know what it is.
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Der er et magisk antal. Jeg ved ikke hvad det er.
17:15
I'm pretty confident that we have long since passed the point
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Jeg er ret sikker på, at vi for længst er nået forbi det punkt
17:18
where options improve our welfare.
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hvor valgmuligheder forbedrer vores velfærd.
17:20
Now, as a policy matter -- I'm almost done --
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Så, som målsætning -- jeg er næsten færdig --
17:23
as a policy matter, the thing to think about is this:
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som målsætning, handler det om at tænke på dette:
17:27
what enables all of this choice in industrial societies is material affluence.
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det der muliggør alle disse valgmuligheder i industrielle samfund er velstand.
17:34
There are lots of places in the world,
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Der er masser af steder i verden,
17:36
and we have heard about several of them,
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og vi har hørt om flere af dem,
17:38
where their problem is not that they have too much choice.
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hvor problemet ikke er at de har for mange valgmuligheder.
17:40
Their problem is that they have too little.
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Deres problemer er at de har for få.
17:43
So the stuff I'm talking about is the peculiar problem
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Så de ting jeg snakker om er det besynderlige problem
17:46
of modern, affluent, Western societies.
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i moderne, velstående vestlige samfund.
17:49
And what is so frustrating and infuriating is this:
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Og det der er så frustrerende og ophidsende er dette:
17:53
Steve Levitt talked to you yesterday about how
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Steve Levitt talte til jer i går om hvordan
17:55
these expensive and difficult-to-install child seats don't help. It's a waste of money.
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disse dyre og svært installerbare børnesæder ikke hjælper. Det er spild af penge.
18:06
What I'm telling you is that these expensive, complicated choices --
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Det jeg fortæller Jer er at disse dyre, komplicerede valg --
18:10
it's not simply that they don't help.
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det er ikke at de simpelthen ikke hjælper.
18:12
They actually hurt.
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De skader faktisk.
18:14
They actually make us worse off.
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De sætter os i en dårligere position.
18:17
If some of what enables people in our societies to make all of the choices we make
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Hvis noget af det der sætter mennesker i vores samfund i stand til at træffe alle de valg vi træffer,
18:22
were shifted to societies in which people have too few options,
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blev flyttet til samfund hvor mennesker har for få valgmuligheder,
18:27
not only would those people's lives be improved,
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ville disse menneskers liv ikke kun blev forbedret,
18:29
but ours would be improved also.
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men vores ville også blive forbedret.
18:32
This is what economists call a "Pareto-improving move."
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Dette er hvad økonomer kalder "Pareto-forbedrende træk".
18:35
Income redistribution will make everyone better off -- not just poor people --
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Indkomst omfordeling vil sørge for at alle får det bedre -- ikke kun de fattige mennesker --
18:40
because of how all this excess choice plagues us.
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på grund af måden hvorpå denne overflod af valgmuligheder plager os.
18:44
So to conclude. You're supposed to read this cartoon,
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Så for at konkludere. Det er meningen I læser denne vittighedstegning,
18:48
and, being a sophisticated person, say,
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og, værende et sofistikeret menneske, sige,
18:50
"Ah! What does this fish know?
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"Ah! Hvad ved denne fisk?
18:52
You know, nothing is possible in this fishbowl."
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Du ved, ingenting er muligt i denne kumme."
18:56
Impoverished imagination, a myopic view of the world --
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En forarmet fantasi, et snæversynet syn på verden --
18:58
and that's the way I read it at first.
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og det er måden hvorpå jeg først læste den.
19:00
The more I thought about it, however,
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Jo mere jeg dog tænkte på den,
19:02
the more I came to the view that this fish knows something.
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jo mere fik jeg opfattelsen at denne fisk ved noget.
19:06
Because the truth of the matter is that
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Fordi sandheden er at
19:08
if you shatter the fishbowl so that everything is possible,
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hvis man smadrer kummen så alt er muligt,
19:13
you don't have freedom. You have paralysis.
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har man ikke frihed. Man er handlingslammet.
19:16
If you shatter this fishbowl so that everything is possible,
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Hvis man smadrer denne kumme så alt er muligt,
19:19
you decrease satisfaction.
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formindsker man tilfredshed.
19:23
You increase paralysis, and you decrease satisfaction.
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Man forøger handlingslammelse, og man formindsker tilfredshed.
19:27
Everybody needs a fishbowl.
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Alle har brug for en kumme.
19:29
This one is almost certainly too limited --
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Denne er næsten med sikkerhed for begrænset --
19:31
perhaps even for the fish, certainly for us.
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måske endda for fiskene, bestemt for os.
19:34
But the absence of some metaphorical fishbowl is a recipe for misery,
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Men fraværet af en metaforisk kumme er en opskrift på elendighed,
19:38
and, I suspect, disaster.
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og, formoder jeg, katastrofe.
19:41
Thank you very much.
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Mange tak.
19:43
(Applause)
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(Bifald)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Barry Schwartz - PsychologistBarry Schwartz studies the link between economics and psychology, offering startling insights into modern life. Lately, working with Ken Sharpe, he's studying wisdom.
Why you should listen
In his 2004 book The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz tackles one of the great mysteries of modern life: Why is it that societies of great abundance — where individuals are offered more freedom and choice (personal, professional, material) than ever before — are now witnessing a near-epidemic of depression? Conventional wisdom tells us that greater choice is for the greater good, but Schwartz argues the opposite: He makes a compelling case that the abundance of choice in today's western world is actually making us miserable.
Infinite choice is paralyzing, Schwartz argues, and exhausting to the human psyche. It leads us to set unreasonably high expectations, question our choices before we even make them and blame our failures entirely on ourselves. His relatable examples, from consumer products (jeans, TVs, salad dressings) to lifestyle choices (where to live, what job to take, who and when to marry), underscore this central point: Too much choice undermines happiness.
Schwartz's previous research has addressed morality, decision-making and the varied inter-relationships between science and society. Before Paradox he published The Costs of Living, which traces the impact of free-market thinking on the explosion of consumerism -- and the effect of the new capitalism on social and cultural institutions that once operated above the market, such as medicine, sports, and the law.
Both books level serious criticism of modern western society, illuminating the under-reported psychological plagues of our time. But they also offer concrete ideas on addressing the problems, from a personal and societal level.
Schwartz is the author of the TED Book, Why We Work.
Barry Schwartz | Speaker | TED.com