The Burden of Choice. The quest for infinite choice is one of the hallmarks of human experience. Studies show that providing choices fosters self-determination and happiness. However, over the past 10 years, a body of research has emerged suggesting our evolutionary drive to maximize choice combined with the abundance of choices available to us is wreaking intrapsychic havoc on our well-being. This problem appears to be multi-layered. First, we are constantly bombarded with options and choices we believe will make us happier at every turn, and then after we make a decision, we are told that better choices exist. Alvin Toffler predicted the damaging effects of this overload of choices nearly 40 years ago in his seminal book, Future Shock. He wrote, "Ironically, the people of the future may suffer not from an absence of choice, but from a paralyzing surfeit of it. They may turn out to be the victims of that peculiar super-industrial dilemma: ‘Overchoice.'" We strive for alternatives to maximize our happiness.
Understanding the Psychology of the American Idea of Choice. Choice is a fundamental American value that often lies at the center of heated political discussions. For example, disputes about the Affordable Healthcare Act have hinged on whether buying health insurance should be a personal choice. Recent research suggests that thinking about our lives in terms choices may reduce our support for public policies that promote greater equality in society. By emphasizing free will over the situational factors that shape people’s life experiences, thinking about choice may lead us to view inequality as less bothersome.
For example, thinking about choices may lead us to feel less concerned about the growing gap between the wealthy and the poor. In a recent paper published in Psychological Science, Krishna Savani of the National University of Singapore Business School and Aneeta Rattan of Stanford University asked some of their participants to list five things they did during the previous day at various time points. Perfect Match… Or Is It? | Meghan's Blog. In today’s society, arranged marriages are seen as archaic. Most of the world believes that people should marry for love, and not be forced into a partnership they don’t want. But what if, in the future, this viewpoint reversed? In the book Matched, by Ally Condie, the only kind of marriages are arranged marriages.
The year every boy and girl turns seventeen, the Officials, the rulers of the Society, hold a Match Banquet. The scariest part of this book is the Society and the Officials. This in particular scared me to no end. Does love last longer in arranged marriages? NEW YORK – Elke Thompson and Sam Quinn got engaged the old-fashioned way: their parents arranged it. Quinn, 23, a quiet engineering student from Springfield, Mo., wanted to settle down, and asked his parents to play matchmaker. Through church friends, they found Thompson, an apple-cheeked 17-year-old from Manhattan, Kan.
"We spent one day together, and then his dad said, 'Yes or no? We're leaving tonight with an answer,'" Thompson recalled with a giggle. Most of the courtship occurred among the parents. "I was very sure that I was going to take whoever they thought was right for me," Thompson said. Fifteen months later, Thompson wore a wedding dress and Quinn donned a dark suit as they sat in a hotel ballroom in New York City, quietly fidgeting around a table adorned with white flowers, waiting with 42 other couples for the Rev.
Thompson's high-school friends think she's nuts, she said. Several religions practice arranged marriages. "This is the way to restore world peace," said Quinn. A new study finds arranged marriages are happy. August 22, 2012|By Nara Schoenberg, Tribune Newspapers (Tim Macpherson, Riser photo/Getty Images) In the United States, we think we know about arranged marriages: Your relatives choose your husband or wife, or present you with a limited pool of candidates, thereby diminishing your options and, ultimately, the chances that you will live happily ever after. But that's not what researchers at California State University found when they put arranged marriage to the test. Psychology professor Pamela Regan and her co-authors looked at the marriages of 58 Indian-Americans living in the U.S. About half the participants (28) said their marriages had been arranged, either by relatives or professional matchmakers.
"We found absolutely no differences whatsoever, and we're not really sure why," says Regan, whose results were published in Psychological Reports. "Certainly the nature of marriage is changing more and more around the world," she said. A: Our parents do affect our choice of spouse. A: Yes! Forced marriage parents face jail under new laws. 8 June 2012Last updated at 11:07 GMT The new law is expected to acknowledge the differences between forced marriages where there is no consent and arranged marriages Parents who force their children to marry in England and Wales could be jailed under planned new laws.
Home Secretary Theresa May said forced marriage was an "appalling practice" and criminalising it would send "a strong message that it will not be tolerated". It is already illegal in Scotland. An estimated 8,000 young women a year are forced into marriages. But campaigners fear the plan could deter victims from coming forward. The new law will distinguish between forced marriages, where there is no consent, and arranged marriages where "both parties have consented to the union but can still refuse to marry if they choose to". A Home Office consultation, which ended in March, was launched at the request of Prime Minister David Cameron, who has said forced marriage is "little more than slavery" and "completely wrong". Existing laws. Population Control and Consequences in China.