The Tyranny Of Choice By Barry Schwartz

True freedom is without obstruction or restraint yet there are ways in which freedom leads to restraint. Many advances and opportunities gave rise during 1865 and 1910 in America along with it came a sense of freedom for the people who migrated or resigned there. People like Jurgis had the freedom to work, earned money, and own a home of their own, but in all reality they were not free but trapped by the very things that they had the freedom to obtain.

“Don 't make a permanent decision for your temporary emotion”. This quote speaks volumes when analyzing one’s daily activities and how decision making is an influential piece to those activities. Human beings are obligated to make decisions every day--some that are made impulsively--but they do not at all reflect one’s actual character. Many people often often predetermine one’s character/morality based off of an incautious decision, but remain oblivious to the reasoning behind the choice that was made. Although one’s choices can be either detrimental or benign to their lives, they have no correlation with their true disposition.

Making decisions in life is like growing a flower. Each and every day it may seem like nothing has changed, but later in the future, every choice one makes will lead to a blooming future. Some decision results little to no effect, while others, leave collateral damage affecting one’s life forever and those around them. Many ordinary decisions can end in regret; on the other hand, constructing a right decision can also leave great memories. The book I Am A Seal Team Six Warrior by Stephen Templin clearly interprets Howard E. Wasdin’s extraordinary life of becoming a soldier who protects the country he loves. Every single resolution causes different outcomes, and this book shows that sometimes ordinary decisions can lead to an extraordinary life.

In “The Choice Explosion” by David Brooks, the author describes the state of decision-making skills and how they have affected life in recent years, specifically in America. Brooks begins with a description of a social psychology experiment on Japanese and American college students and the decisions they wanted to make for themselves. The results showed that the American students wanted to decide in four times more areas than the Japanese students. Brooks then makes the conclusion that this is the result of American individualism; this individualism has provided more choice and control over everyday life. However, the author also points out that arriving at good outcomes is no easy task, even for qualified decision makers. Brooks demonstrates this through

Life is all about making decisions. Making the right decision that positively affects yourself and others, and trying your best not to make the wrong choices that may negatively hurt yourself and others. The most important factor in why people choose to do something is of how it affects themselves and the other people around them because the outcome of the decision for them and others, in the end, helps mainly determine the choice for the person or persons.

Life is full of choices, choices here and choice there. some are small like what you’ll have for breakfast and others are big like whether you’ll finish high school. But are they really your choices? Are people really in charge of their life like they claim to be ? A statistic shows that 40% of children in America are raised without a father and 50% of children have experienced divorce by the age of 18. Studies also show that children who have gone through divorce are more likely to get lower grades and are considered less pleasant to be around by their peers and teens who live in a single parent or blended home are three times more likely to need psychological help within a year. These choices are already made for the children and they have

The path to adulthood involves learning to make choices among various options. Depending upon the style of government in which people find themselves, the nature and amount of such choices can vary widely. For example, in a democratic government adults may enjoy a large degree of freedom of choice. While in a totalitarian government, adults are severely constrained in their freedom of choice. Irrespective of the style of government in which people live, they are faced with the decision to comply with, or to rebel against, whatever principles or laws are imposed on them by their governments. In The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, a democratic government is overthrown and is replaced by a theocratic military dictatorship. As a result, freedom

Today we are given a privilege to make our own choices. Whether it is as simple as choosing what you want to wear, or what career you would like to pursue. Every day we make these decisions unconsciously. If one day, this privilege is taken away from us, we would not know what to do and how to act upon it. It is essentially a privilege that every person in this world desires. In America and the majority of this world, if we didn 't have the option to choose our limitations and restrictions, this world would not be shaped like how it is today. We have finally come to a day where people have freedom and rights, whether it may be a beneficial or detrimental depending on one’s perspective, all actions done are reflected upon us and not anyone else.

The plan-do-review process is the most important segment of the daily routine in which children make choices about what they will do, carry out their ideas and plans while playing in the different areas of the classroom, and reflect upon their activities and experiences with adults and other children. This cycle aims to help play become meaningful. The plan-do-review process fosters children’s development of initiative, reflection, problem solving, responsibility, and they can see themselves as individuals who can act on decisions. Children experience the power of independence and are conscious of their intentions which support the development of purpose and confidence.

Being born free in America is nothing, but does not sound like the truth. America is known as a symbol of freedom though how much freedom does people really have? People in America need to take serious risks in order to earn their freedom that they want. Though when people try to express their freedom they get locked away by the government. No one ever can be free unless they fight for what they believe in.

Government has the authority to lead the people, but there is an extent of their control. The novel Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess, depicts a dystopian world of extreme crime and violence. However, while the depicted society does condemn violence, it also facilitates the destruction of humanity and the autonomy of individuals. When a human is depersonalized and stripped of their free will, they are simply the “clockworks” under the control of their oppressors. They are no longer a person; rather, they are the robot that is programmed to give more power to the government. While the protagonist, Alex, may choose vicious acts, he chooses them with a clear ethical capacity. On the other hand, when being controlled by the government, he loses the part of him that makes him human. Individuals may not always make the best choice, but humanity comes from a human’s ability to choose between right and wrong. In this case, the destruction of Alex’s humanity proves that it is better to be bad by choice, than to be good by government coercion.

“Life begins at conception. Therefore, an un-born baby has a right to life. This court ruling is a slap in the face of humanity” (Gordon, Tacoma,

Human beings repress their freedom of choice, the right to determine one’s own action, by accepting restrictions over their free wills. However, the act of making a choice is the most important thing for a human being. Human beings can give meaning to their life through self-determination, the ability to make one’s own decision without the influence from outside. Most people believe that they have a freedom of choice but, in fact, their freedom is restricted by a myriad of factors. One of these factors is the restriction of people’s nature of freedom by cruel authorities through the idea of colonialism. As an enemy of freedom, colonialism determines the decisions and fate of people and forces them to repress their own freedom. To investigate in what way people repress their freedom within a colonial context, we can turn to Albert Camus’s story “The Guest”. Repressing one’s own free choice under the influence of colonialism, can lead to forfeiting his/her freedom since not being able to express one’s true conviction renders his/her morality and self-determination, which is illustrated by Albert Camus’s story “The Guest”.

True freedom is commonly defined as absolute choice; whether it is in thought, actions or speech, freedom is an individual’s ability to take control of their lives and enables the human experience. Civilization views freedom as an ideal, yet the means of achieving it and whether or not freedom is truly achieved remains ambiguous. There are often individuals in civilized society who struggle and believe themselves to be free after a hard earned victory against oppression. Yet, the implications of maintaining a civilized social structure upon freedom is often overlooked. Many individuals view themselves as free from a subjective standpoint, although true freedom has an absolute meaning. Having true freedom would suggest the ability to develop independently as an individual, yet it becomes evident that in the societies of Brave New World and the Great Gatsby, the existence of social structure prevents true freedom from ever existing.

So making a bad decision is never fun. I’d like to think that most of us prefer not to make them but can’t help to sometimes because we think a bad decision isn’t that bad. It might even be a good one in the right mind set. The point of this paper being to reflect on a pass choice looking at it with the elements of critical thinking. My bad decision is one I think most are guilty of, waiting until the last minute on something important. In my case a paper due for a class that I didn’t start working on until the weekend before it was due. Now waiting until the last minute to start the paper itself wasn’t the bad decision but act of trying to get it done in time since I chose to procrastinate was.