Excerpt From 'The Art of Choosing'

The expansion of choice has become an explosion of choice, and while there is something beautiful and immensely satisfying about having all of this variety at our fingertips, we also find ourselves beset by it. We think the profusion of possibilities must make it that much easier to find that perfect gift for a friend's birthday, only to find ourselves paralyzed in the face of row upon row of potential presents. Which one is really her? Which one is truly the "perfect" gift? This one is good, but how do I know that there isn't something better someplace else, and have I, by now, looked hard enough for it? We exhaust ourselves in the search, and something that should have been a joy — celebrating a loved one — becomes a chore. But can we really complain? This abundance, which many of us take for granted, is not available to everyone. When we question it, we might be accused of looking a gift horse in the mouth, or somebody might offer to play us the world's saddest song on the world's smallest violin. Moreover, whatever our reservations about choice, we have continued to demand more of it, and one can't deny that all this choice does come with certain benefits.

From the book The Art of Choosing Copyright (c) 2010 by Sheena Iyengar. Reprinted by permission of Twelve Books/Hachette Book Group, New York, N.Y. All rights reserved. Read an interview with Sheena Iyengar.