When Choice is Demotivating: Can One Desire Too Much of a Good Thing? Sheena S. Iyengar Mark R. Lepper Columbia University Stanford University Current psychological theory and research affirm the positive affective and motivational consequences of having personal choice. These findings have led to the popular notion that the more choice, the better--that the human ability to manage, and the human desire for, choice is unlimited. Findings from 3 experimental studies starkly challenge this implicit assumption that having more choices is necessarily more intrinsically motivating than having fewer. These experiments, which were conducted in both field and laboratory settings, show that people are more likely to purchase gourmet jams or chocolates or to undertake optional class essay assignments when offered a limited array of 6 choices rather than a more extensive array of 24 or 30 choices. Moreover, participants actually reported greater subsequent satisfaction with their selections and wrote better essays when their original set of options had been limited. Implications for future research are discussed. Ne quid nimis. (In all things moderation.) On the face of it, this supposition seems well supported by --Publius Terentius Afer (Terence), c. 171 B.C. decades of psychological theory and research that has repeatedly demonstrated, across many domains, a link between the provision It is a common supposition in modern society that the more of choice and increases in intrinsic motivation, perceived control, choices, the better--that the human ability to manage, and the task performance, and life satisfaction (Deci, 1975, 1981; Deci & human desire for, choice is infinite. From classic economic theo- Ryan, 1985; Glass & Singer, 1972a, 1972b; Langer & Rodin, ries of free enterprise, to mundane marketing practices that provide 1976; Rotter, 1966; Schulz & Hanusa, 1978; Taylor, 1989; Taylor customers with entire aisles devoted to potato chips or soft drinks, & Brown, 1988). In a typical laboratory study, the intrinsic moti- to important life decisions in which people contemplate alternative vation of participants is compared across two conditions: one in career options or multiple investment opportunities, this belief which participants are given a choice among half a dozen possible pervades our institutions, norms, and customs. Ice cream parlors activities, and a second in which participants are told by an compete to offer the most flavors; major fast-food chains urge us experimenter which specific activity to undertake (Zuckerman, to "Have it our way." Porac, Lathin, Smith & Deci, 1978). The recurring empirical finding from these studies is that the provision of choice increases intrinsic motivation and enhances performance on a variety of Sheena S. Iyengar, Graduate School of Business, Columbia University; tasks. Mark R. Lepper, Department of Psychology, Stanford University. Moreover, the positive consequences of choice are often appar- We gratefully acknowledge the cooperation and assistance of Draeger's Grocery Store located in Menlo Park, California, for generously offering ent even in contexts where the choice itself is trivial or incidental their store as a field site for conducting Study 1. Similarly, Study 2 could (Cordova & Lepper, 1996; Dember, Galinsky, & Warm, 1992; not have occurred without the cooperation and support of Claude Steele at Swann& Pittman, 1977). Indeed, many important theories in Stanford University who generously allowed his introductory social psy- social psychology, including attribution theory (e.g., Kelley, 1967, chology course to be used as a forum for conducting this field experiment. 1973), dissonance theory (e.g., Collins & Hoyt, 1972; Cooper & Further, we would like to thank the numerous graduate students in the Fazio, 1984; Linder, Cooper, & Jones, 1967), and reactance theory Department of Psychology at Stanford University and undergraduate re- (e.g., Brehm, 1966), all presume that even purely illusory percep- search assistants who generously dedicated their time and effort to help tions of choice will have powerful effects (Langer, 1975; Lefcourt, conduct these studies. 1973; Lewin, 1952). Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Sheena S. Iyengar, Columbia University, Graduate School of Business, Uris Hall- Although prior research has made a compelling case for the Room 714, 3022 Broadway, New York, New York 10027-6902, or to Mark psychological benefits of the provision of choice, there remain R. Lepper, Department of Psychology, Jordan Hall-Building 420, Stanford some potential limitations to this literature. Consider one seem- University, Stanford, California 94305-2130. Electronic mail may be sent ingly trivial, yet potentially important, methodological character- to [email protected] or [email protected]. istic of prior studies: that the number of options presented in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2000, Vol. 79, No. 6, 995-1006 Copyright 2000 by the American Psychological Association, Inc. 0022-3514/00/$5.00 DOI: 10.1037//0022-3514.79.6.995 995 996 IYENGAR AND LEPPER previous experiments was characteristically small, typically be- (approximately six) as used in past research (e.g., Zuckerman et tween two and six alternatives. It would appear, then, that what al., 1978). In comparison, extensive-choice conditions were opera- prior research has actually shown is that choice among relatively tionalized as contexts in which participants would have some limited alternatives is more beneficial than no choice at all. Pre- reasonably large, but not ecologically unusual, number of options. sumably, of course, constraints on the number of options offered in In addition, to provide a clear test of the choice overload past choice studies were imposed primarily for the sake of conve- hypothesis, several additional methodological considerations nience; however, real-world situations often provide more than a seemed important. On the one hand, to minimize the likelihood of limited selection, sometimes even an overwhelming number of simple preference matching, care was taken to select contexts in options. What happens when the range of alternatives becomes which most participants would not already have strong specific larger and the differences among options become relatively small? preferences. On the other hand, to minimize the potential impor- Certainly, there are cases when even a vast array of choices may tance of effortful information search, care was also taken to select still have beneficial effects. Imagine a group of people who arrive tasks for which "right" and "wrong" choices would be subjective, at a new restaurant, for example, all hoping to order their personal so that the effort involved in making a choice would be largely a favorite dishes. Obviously, the more items offered on the menu, function of personal preferences. Finally, across experiments, we the more satisfied these customers will be, on average. More sought to examine this hypothesis in both field and laboratory generally, in preference-matching contexts, in which people enter settings. Using these criteria, then, the present studies tested the hoping to find some particular product or service they already hypothesis that having a limited and more manageable set of know themselves to prefer, larger numbers of options should choices may be more intrinsically motivating than having an increase the likelihood that they will be successful in their search. overly extensive set of choices. On the other hand, a growing body of research also suggests that people can have difficulty managing complex choices. To begin Study 1 with, research has shown that as the attractiveness of alternatives rises, individuals experience conflict and as a result tend to defer In this first field experiment, consumers shopping at an upscale decision, search for new alternatives, choose the default option, or grocery store encountered a tasting booth that displayed either a simply opt not to choose (Dhar, 1997; Shafir, Simonson, & Tver- limited (6) or an extensive (24) selection of different flavors of sky, 1993; Shafir & Tversky, 1992). Furthermore, consumer re- jam. The two dependent measures of customers' motivation were search suggests that as both the number of options and the infor- their initial attraction to the tasting booth and their subsequent mation about options increases, people tend to consider fewer purchasing behavior. choices and to process a smaller fraction of the overall information available regarding their choices (Hauser & Wernerfelt, 1990). Method In fact, studies show that the selection, evaluation, and integra- tion of information are all clearly affected by the available number Participants and Experimental Site of options; this suggests that, as the complexity of making choices Study 1 involved a field experiment that examined the motivational rises, people tend to simplify their decision-making processes by consequences of limited versus extensive choice in an upscale grocery relying on simple heuristics (Payne, 1982; Payne, Bettman, & store (Draeger's Supermarket) located in Menlo Park, California. This Johnson, 1988, 1993; Timmermans, 1993; Wright, 1975). For grocery store is of particular interest because its salient distinguishing instance, a comparison of the decision strategies of people pre- feature is the extraordinary selection it offers, especially when compared sented with three, six, or nine alternatives revealed that 21% used with large grocery chains. For instance,