When choice is demotivating: Can one desire too much of a good thing?

Current psychological theory and research affirm the positive affective and motivational consequences of having personal choice. These findings have l ed to the popular notion that the more choice, the better-that the human ab ility to manage, and the human desire for, choice is unlimited. Findings fr om 3 experimental studies starkly challenge this implicit assumption that h aving more choices is necessarily more intrinsically motivating than having fewer. These experiments, which were conducted in both field and laborator y settings, show that people are more likely to purchase gourmet jams or ch ocolates or to undertake optional class essay assignments when offered a li mited array of 6 choices rather than a more extensive array of 24 or 30 cho ices. Moreover, participants actually reported greater subsequent satisfact ion with their selections and wrote better essays when their original set o f options had been limited. Implications for future research are discussed.