Senior psychology major
Although we still function with the mindset of a free and happy “American Dream,” the truth is that American citizens’ contentedness is declining. According to several studies and reports, overall life satisfaction in the U.S. has fallen below that of many other nations, even some with lower living standards.
Data highlighting the discrepancy between prosperity — traditionally measured by per capita GDP, but recently accounting for factors such as educational opportunities, health care and personal freedoms — and life satisfaction have been published in countless reports. Recently, the annual Legatum Prosperity Index ranked the U.S. No. 12; the New Economics Foundation’s Happy Planet Index placed the U.S. near the bottom of the list (No. 105 of 151), citing our horrendous ecological footprint; and Columbia University’s World Happiness Report ranked the U.S. No. 10 in terms of life satisfaction and No. 23 for happiness.
There are many reasons why people in a wealthy, egalitarian society might feel less satisfied with their lives than citizens of a poor nation do; for one, there’s simply a different point of reference for what’s “normal.” It’s fruitless to desire things that are impossible to obtain in any given society. Furthermore, individual upbringing and cultural traditions influence one’s worldview and contentment with the current situation. These undoubtedly contribute to the variance in world happiness, but another problem facing this country — the reason why discontent is growing — lies hidden within our capitalist economy, and it’s an inherent threat in any free-market system.
I’m talking about the pure number of consumer goods available to us every day. It’s wonderful to be able to buy anything you want from the local superstore, but did you ever stop to notice how many brands and types of things are on the shelves? Is that really all necessary? Consider over-the-counter medications, for example. The active ingredient in Advil and Motrin is the same as store-brand ibuprofen, yet you waste time deciding which to buy and later wonder if another would have better helped your headache. There’s often an entire aisle full of bread, from 7-grain to 12-grain, flatbreads to pitas, all manufactured by a slew of baking companies trying to get their hands on every corner of the starchy spectrum.
Shopping malls have endless options; yet even with thousands of outfits to browse through, we often spend hours looking for the perfect fit and leave with nothing, frustrated by the “poor selection.” Even on television, we flip through hundreds of channels before concluding there’s “nothing to watch.”
This all comes down to something known in psychology as the paradox of choice: More is not always better, at least in terms of multiple options and their effects on the human psyche. According to the researcher who first published the theory, giving people more to select from lowers their ultimate satisfaction no matter which option they choose, because the act of decision-making induces stress and worry on the individual. Thus, people from societies without the plethora of consumer choices that we face are more likely to be content and fulfilled with their decisions and spend less time ruminating about alternatives.
To be clear, I’m not advocating a drastic change to our economic system overnight. I believe a free market has its benefits along with its pitfalls. Yet I urge corporations to take analyses of world happiness and psychological findings on the paradoxical effects of choice into account when developing products that would best serve society. For although a salesman may not want to admit it, sometimes, less is actually more.
Lauren Mendelsohn is a senior psychology major. She can be reached at lmendel1@terpmail.umd.edu.
