Overchoice

[Overchoice takes place when] the advantages of diversity and individualization are canceled by the complexity of buyer's decision-making process.

— From Alvin Toffler, Future Shock, 1971

Overchoice or choice overload[1] is the paradoxical phenomenon that choosing between a large variety of options can be detrimental to decision making processes. The term was first introduced by Alvin Toffler in his 1970 book, Future Shock.[2]

  1. ^ Chernev, Alexander; Böckenholt, Ulf; Goodman, Joseph (April 2015). "Choice overload: A conceptual review and meta-analysis". Journal of Consumer Psychology. 25 (2): 333–358. doi:10.1016/j.jcps.2014.08.002. ISSN 1057-7408. S2CID 46655935.
  2. ^ Thomas W. Simon, Democracy and Social Injustice: Law, Politics, and Philosophy, Rowman & Littlefield, 1995, ISBN 0-8476-7938-1, Google Print, p.143