Lately I wanted to buy a heart-rate monitor online, so I enterd Polar’s website. Polar has dozens of models, so I had hard times choosing the right one for me. The difference between each one of them was sometimes one feature or two. It took me a lot of time, but eventually I decided and ordered. A few days after I read about the paradox of choice, and found out that apparently I’m an exceptional customer: most people would give up in such multiple-choice condition, or decide badly (I didn’t choose badly since I’m already satisfied with the product). The reason for this behavior is the analysis paralysis effect: paralysis that is caused by overdose of information.
Quite true. I often find myself giving up on a product just because there too much information for me to handle. However, I find that it only happens when it is a product with which the technical information I’m not already familiar with. It also happens when I don’t really need the product. With necessities I find I may make a bad choice, but buy it nonetheless.