Paradoxy of Choice 2018

TOPIC – DRAFT: The paradoxy of choice
To get the ball rolling, I would like to start stating that I have picked out the paradoxy of choice as my topic,
on account of the fact that when I take a decision I wonder if it is the most suitable one, even though I have
considered every slight detail.
It is generally accepted that decisions are based on choices influenced by our motivations, desires, biases
and so on, but how sure can we be about our decisions?
- We have been taking decisions for all your life. Actually a great deal of decisions arise in our everyday life, some of
which are critical for our future.
For instance, when you are 16, you must choose between art or science at high school. At 25 and you have
to choose your first job and at 30 you may realise you would like to merge into a new professional. Yet, how
free are we when taking these decisions?
Decisions are considered to be an innate choice by researchers but to a certain extent they are created by
social culture, in my view. “To choose” means to turn ourselves to the future, so we might make up our mind
by basing on what we see in that future trying to improve our past life. Choices, from the trivial to the life-
altering, are a compound of our stories, the consequence of our life and experiences, despite the fact that it
always comes down to a key point: whatever our past or present has been like, it is only up to us to make the
decisions which lead our survival depending on the degree of freedom we are granted.
-For example, do animals actually choose on their own to be in zoos? Of course not……
Zoos are good examples about incompatibility with animals’ survival instincts, given that they do not have
control over their own lives, since they feel defeated and in some way and they become anxious, which might
make us reflect that if freedom of decision is not at our disposal, we feel closed down. Nevertheless, in some
situations the lack of freedom can turn out positive. How? You might be thinking…
- Have you ever heard of arranged marriages?
Mostly arranged marriages grow as business partners, close friends or love couples. On the contrary, love-
based marriages chosen freely depend on affection and immediate chemistry. They are required to be in
exhausting conditions every day until death. Thus, after 20 years, 90% of the couple passion walked away.
As a result, arranged marriages fare better than love marriages, as strange as may sound.
-Do not count your chickens before they are hatched, as the saying goes….
If I had been told about these marriages when I was younger, I wouldn’t have believed so. Arranged
marriages? Impossible to be happy in that situation… but now I am changing my mind… Thus, could we
actually need to be pushed in some decisions to find this hard-to-find lifetime happiness? Perhaps!
The relation between happiness and decisions is paradoxical. This “perfect” happiness has always been the
goal in our decisions, but from my point of view the decision-taking process might have undermined it in
many cases, as most often people fail to realize that their priorities have shifted over the time.
For example, I have read about an experiment where it was looked into how graduates who did everything
objectively right in the job search process (following mentor´s advice, parents and friends) compared to peers
who took a more casual approach to look for a job ended up being more fulfilled.
After six months, people who analyzed their decisions more thoroughly earned around 25% more than their
counterparts. Despite this, these ones were less certain that they had made the right choice and less
satisfied with their jobs overall, given that they had higher expectations, which shows how our priorities
change and how decisions are never good enough.
Therefore, expectations, happiness, luck, social obligations and so on stand for some of the basic aspects
when dealing with decisions. Sadly most of these decisions do not drive you to “something perfect”,
there might always be “something better”. Nevertheless, not only should the rational but also emotional
criteria be balanced whenever the best choices want to be made.
Do you tend to balance your decisions in a rational and emotional manner?
In my opinion the first stage might be rational and afterwards, the decision ought to be taken following
the emotional criteria.
_____________________________________________________________________
EXAMINER QUESTIONS AS AN EXAMPLE.
3-Should you have already taken a wrong decision, how do you redeem the situation?
It depends on the kind of decision, in easy ones, I would try to change it ASAP. On the contrary in
difficult ones, I would ask peers, friends or family for advice.
4-According to the age, are the social trends more rational than emotional?
Studies…
5-How has the decision-taking changed along history ?

It has not changed a great deal whereas the amount of information we manage.
---GENDER -----
6-What are the different patterns in the decision process whether people are cultivated or
not ?
It is supposed to be more rational for cultivated people although once you need to choose by yourself
then you dont care about the theory on itself. You just go over the problem as everybody. First stage,
you define the choice in a rational stage and afterwards, for the final decision, you must develop an
emotional way for the little details.

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TOPIC – DRAFT: The paradoxy of choice

- Have you ever heard of arranged marriages?

EXAMINER QUESTIONS AS AN EXAMPLE.

5-How has the decision-taking changed along history ?

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