對付“選擇恐懼癥”——選擇的藝術(shù)

Making decisions when shopping is often a tough call. Even if you’re satisfied with the first dress you try on, would you go on looking for alternatives, comparing styles and prices, until you literally dropped dead?

在購物時做決定往往十分困難。就算對自己試穿的第一件衣服很滿意，你會不會繼續(xù)嘗試其他選擇，在各種風格與價格之間比來比去，直到“倒地而亡”?

According to a recent Wall Street Journal column, psychology researchers have studied how people make decisions and concluded there are two basic styles. “Maximizers” like to take their time and weigh a wide range of options — sometimes every possible one — before choosing. “Satisficers” (combination of the word “satisfice” and “satisfy”) would rather be fast than thorough.

據(jù)《華爾街日報》日前一專欄報道：心理研究人員對人們作出決定的過程進行了研究，并將其總結(jié)成兩種基本風格：一是愿意花時間對各種選擇進行考慮的“最大化者”，二是不求全面只求速度的 “滿足者”。英文中，Satisficers (滿足者)一詞由satisfice(為取得某一目標不惜最低要求)與satisfy(滿足)組合而成。

“Maximizers are people who want the best. Satisficers are people who want good enough,” Barry Schwartz, a professor of psychology at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania and the author of TheParadox of Choice told The Wall Street Journal.

《選擇的悖論》一書的作者、賓夕法尼亞斯州沃斯莫爾學院的心理學教授巴里•施瓦茨在接受《華爾街日報》的采訪時說：“‘最大化者’想要最好的，而‘滿足者’只要足夠好就可以了。”

In a study published in 2006 in the journal Psychological Science, Schwartz and his colleagues followed 548 job-seeking college seniors at 11 schools from October through their graduation in June. They found that the maximizers landed better jobs. Their starting salaries were, on average, 20 percent higher than those of the satisficers, but they felt worse about their jobs.

在2006年發(fā)表于《心理科學》雜志的一項研究中，施瓦茨和他的同事們調(diào)查了來自11所大學的548名大四學生從當年十月至來年六月間找工作的情況。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)“最大化者”能找到更好的工作，起薪普遍比“滿足者”高20%，但是他們對工作的滿意度卻不及“滿足者”。

No right choice

沒有正確的選擇

“The maximizer is kicking himself because he can’t examine every option and at some point had to just pick something,” Schwartz says. “Maximizers make good decisions and end up feeling bad about them. Satisficers make good decisions and end up feeling good.”

施瓦茨說：“‘最大化者’不可能仔細研究所有選項，但卻不得不在某個時刻做出決定，因此他們總是后悔自己做出的選擇。。因此，他們雖然做出了好的決策，卻總是以糟糕的情緒收場。‘滿足者’同樣也做出了不錯的決定，并且感覺不錯。”

Satisficers also have high standards, but they are happier than maximizers, he says. Maximizers tend to be more depressed and to report a lower satisfaction with life, his research found.

他還說，“滿足者”對事物的標準并不低，而且他們比“最大化者”更開心。他的調(diào)查顯示，“最大化者”更容易沮喪，對生活的滿意度也更低。

Faced with so many choices in our lives, we need to learn how not to waste time and energy on our decision-making, says Jane C. Hu in Slate online magazine.

Jane C. Hu在網(wǎng)絡雜志Slate上說，在生活中，面對如此多的選擇，我們需要學會如何在做決定上不浪費時間和精力。

First of all, Hu suggests, decrease your range of options. For instance, if you’re picking a restaurant for a lunch meeting, first deciding on a certain part of town or type of cuisine can narrow your options.

Hu提出的建議是，首先，縮小選擇范圍。比如，為午餐會選擇飯店，你可以先確定選擇飯店所在的地區(qū)或者菜式，以此來縮小選擇的范圍。

Once you’ve arrived at a decision, stick with it. Just accept that no decision is ever completely perfect, and remind yourself that it is the best you can do at the moment. To limit the number of options you can consider, you can set a self-imposed time limit for decision-making, Hu advises. Say you are buying a new bag, you could spend an amount of time studying features and optimizing price and value — “but if you give yourself only five minutes to make a decision, there are only these bags you can consider. You’ll save time, you’ll be happier with your decision, too”.

一旦做了決定，就堅持下去。沒有一個決定是盡善盡美的，提醒自己這是你此時能做的最好選擇。Hu還建議到，你也可以對自己做選擇的時間做出限定，以減少自己需要考慮的選項。比如說你要買一個新的包包，你可以花相當多的時間來研究包包的特點，尋找最物美價廉的存在， “但是如果你只給自己五分鐘的時間做決定，你就能考慮為數(shù)不多的幾個包包。這樣既節(jié)省了時間，也讓你在做選擇時心情更好。”