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Too many options (2) Wednesday, Jan 13, 2010 3:06 pm

From Daniel Gilbert's Stumbling on Happiness

Our side-by-side comparisons can be influenced by extreme possibilities such as extravagant wines and dilapidated houses, but they can also be influenced by the addition of extra possibilities that are identical to those we are already considering.  For example, in one study, physicians read about Medication X and were then asked whether they would prescribe the medication for a patient with osteoarthritis.  The physicians clearly considered the medication worthwhile, because only 28 percent chose not to prescribe it.  But when another group of physicians was asked whether they would prescribe Medication X or an equally effective Medication Y for a patient with the same disease, 48 percent chose to prescribe nothing.  Apparently, adding another equally effective medication to the list of possibilities made it difficult for the physicians to decide between the two medications, thus leading many of them to recommend neither. (p. 142)

The idea of the tyranny of choice is an interesting facet of behavioral economics, but more so it's a scary reminder that human doctors have no right to be in charge of the health of other humans.  They're simply too predictably irrational, which is the title of another book on behavioral economics by Dan Ariely

Rus Wednesday, Jan 13, 2010 3:40 pm

This is 20 minutes long, but a good talk on your subject:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO6XEQIsCoM

Dave Wednesday, Jan 13, 2010 3:59 pm

Same thing, but on the TED website.

I actually heard about Daniel Gilbert and his book from his talk at a TED conference.  Good call.

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