Personality Pick: A Study Looking at the Effect of Self-Expressive Goals on Choice Overload

Abstract

Previous research has shown that giving people too many choices has negative effects on the decision-making process – an effect known as choice overload. However, recent studies have suggested that when aiming to self-express, people may actually prefer more options as opposed to fewer. In other words, the choice overload effect may be inverted when trying to make a statement about the self. This study sought to extend this new area of research, looking at the question: does having a self-expressive goal improve decision-making when faced with large choice sets? This question was evaluated through an online survey, looking at both hedonic and utilitarian choices. Participants were given either a preference goal (i.e. choose the item that you like the most) or a self-expressive goal (i.e. choose the item that you identify with the most) and asked to select from small and large choice sets. The effect of self-expressive goals on decision- making was then measured by looking at perceived goal achievement, choice difficulty and satisfaction with the choice made specifically. Based on these measures, the results of this study did not support the initial hypothesis as providing a self-expressive goal did not moderate the effects of choice overload. In fact, the results showed that this manipulation actually increased decision difficulty in both small and large choice sets. This suggests that framing a choice in terms of self-expression rather than preference may actually worsen the decision-making process. However, looking at the limitations of this study, further research on this interaction between self-expression and choice overload is suggested - particularly, looking at indirect activation of self-expressive contemplation (as opposed to the direct activation in this study) on decision-making.