DISQUS

joe o'malley · 4 years ago

points to a type of response to this issue wouldn't significantly restrict freedom. The use of well selected defaults can help people out.

I think there is some middle ground on this. Why do the choices people face at the supermarket not cause the same problems as the choices people make on their 401K? I think it is because 1) the consequences are smaller 2) people go to the supermarket a lot and become pretty good at supermarket shopping and 3) there is feedback to help you make good decisions (if everybody hates the generic soda, next time you don't buy the generic soda).

Tracy W · 4 years ago

In addition to what Joe said, I also think that supermarkets are structured in order to help you make choices. E.g. I don't make a choice amongst breakfast cereals, I make a choice amongst toasted muselis, and amazingly enough the muselis are in the same place on the shelves.

The first time I read about the experiment with the jams, I met a friend that evening outside Starbucks (I don't drink coffee so I don't often go to Starbucks but it was a meeting place both of us knew). While waiting for her, I counted the coffee options on offer and came up with about 35 not counting the additional options of having whatever you had with soy milk or an extra shot of espresso or whatever. Either we have to believe that:
a) the normal interpretation of the jam experiment is right and Starbucks is sacrificing profits in order to fulfill a higher motive of supplying the world with a lot of coffee choices
b) the normal interpretation of the jam experiment doesn't tell the whole of the story.

If you look at the Starbucks menu, those 35 odd choices are broken down into about 6 major level decisions (espresso, cappucino, etc) with 6 sub-options within each. People are not choosing from 35 different options, they are making two choices from two different sets of six options.

I would be interested in the results of a jam experiment where they tried presenting a large number of jam options but broken down into groups like Starbucks does.

R.J. Lehmann · 4 years ago

I always thought what The Jam Experiment mostly showed was that, after sampling 30 different jams, a customer will feel like a pig, and be in no mood whatsoever to buy yet MORE jam.