Brain Health Requires Less Decisions So Pursue A Simple Life

Deoends on not making many choices; Jeans that fit perfectly. The ideal Netflix show for a Tuesday night. Your one and only soulmate. Modern life promises that with enough options, you will happily find the best of everything. But behavioral scientists say the increasing flood of choices — whether it comes to shopping, social lives or relationships — is doing the opposite. The idea that more choice is better is baked into Western culture, but research shows that having more options can make people anxious, indecisive and, paradoxically, less happy with what they pick, said Barry Schwartz, an emeritus psychology professor at Swarthmore University and author of “The Paradox of Choice.” “There have been hundreds of studies showing that there can be too much of a good thing,” Schwartz said. The brain doesn’t like making decisions Daniel Willingham, a psychology professor and neuroscience researcher at the University of Virginia, said the phenomenon occurs because the brain is designed to save people from having to think. Problem-solving requires more energy than relying on memory, a fact that has roots in evolutionary survival mode, Willingham said. When faced with a goal, whether it be an immediate need like responding to a threat or something longer term like finding shelter, the mind first searches for what’s worked before. The problem-solving part of the brain only kicks in afterward. “Another way to put it is that if you’re thinking, things are not going well,” he said. https://apnews.com/article/too-many-choices-making-decisions-8ae0bfaac1d51cc5fc7b2e59336ff0dd