Choosing Not to Choose

Choosing Not to Choose
Author: Cass R. Sunstein
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2015
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0190231696

Cass R. Sunstein is at the forefront of developing public policy to encourage people to make better decisions. In Choosing Not to Choose he presents his most complete argument for how we should understand the value of choice, and when and how we should enable people to choose not to choose. Confronting the challenging future of data-driven decision-making, Sunstein presents a manifesto for how personalized defaults should be used to enhance our freedom and well-being.

The Paradox of Choice

The Paradox of Choice
Author: Barry Schwartz
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2009-10-13
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0061748994

Whether we're buying a pair of jeans, ordering a cup of coffee, selecting a long-distance carrier, applying to college, choosing a doctor, or setting up a 401(k), everyday decisions—both big and small—have become increasingly complex due to the overwhelming abundance of choice with which we are presented. As Americans, we assume that more choice means better options and greater satisfaction. But beware of excessive choice: choice overload can make you question the decisions you make before you even make them, it can set you up for unrealistically high expectations, and it can make you blame yourself for any and all failures. In the long run, this can lead to decision-making paralysis, anxiety, and perpetual stress. And, in a culture that tells us that there is no excuse for falling short of perfection when your options are limitless, too much choice can lead to clinical depression. In The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz explains at what point choice—the hallmark of individual freedom and self-determination that we so cherish—becomes detrimental to our psychological and emotional well-being. In accessible, engaging, and anecdotal prose, Schwartz shows how the dramatic explosion in choice—from the mundane to the profound challenges of balancing career, family, and individual needs—has paradoxically become a problem instead of a solution. Schwartz also shows how our obsession with choice encourages us to seek that which makes us feel worse. By synthesizing current research in the social sciences, Schwartz makes the counter intuitive case that eliminating choices can greatly reduce the stress, anxiety, and busyness of our lives. He offers eleven practical steps on how to limit choices to a manageable number, have the discipline to focus on those that are important and ignore the rest, and ultimately derive greater satisfaction from the choices you have to make.

Refuse to Choose!

Refuse to Choose!
Author: Barbara Sher
Publisher: Rodale
Total Pages: 290
Release: 2007-03-06
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 1594866260

Identifies seven personality types that share a common quality of having numerous unrelated interests, explaining how to prioritize and pursue multiple goals simultaneously in order to enjoy a successful and varied life.

The Art of Choosing

The Art of Choosing
Author: Sheena Iyengar
Publisher: Twelve
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2010-04-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0446558710

Every day we make choices. Coke or Pepsi? Save or spend? Stay or go? Whether mundane or life-altering, these choices define us and shape our lives. Sheena Iyengar asks the difficult questions about how and why we choose: Is the desire for choice innate or bound by culture? Why do we sometimes choose against our best interests? How much control do we really have over what we choose? Sheena Iyengar's award-winning research reveals that the answers are surprising and profound. In our world of shifting political and cultural forces, technological revolution, and interconnected commerce, our decisions have far-reaching consequences. Use The Art of Choosing as your companion and guide for the many challenges ahead.

Choosing Not Choosing

Choosing Not Choosing
Author: Sharon Cameron
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 280
Release: 1992
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9780226092324

Although Emily Dickinson copied and bound her poems into manuscript notebooks, in the century since her death her poems have been read as single lyrics with little or no regard for the context she created for them in her fascicles. Choosing Not Choosing is the first book-length consideration of the poems in their manuscript context. Sharon Cameron demonstrates that to read the poems with attention to their placement in the fascicles is to observe scenes and subjects unfolding between and among poems rather than to think of them as isolated riddles, enigmatic in both syntax and reference. Thus Choosing Not Choosing illustrates that the contextual sense of Dickinson is not the canonical sense of Dickinson. Considering the poems in the context of the fascicles, Cameron argues that an essential refusal of choice pervades all aspects of Dickinson's poetry. Because Dickinson never chose whether she wanted her poems read as single lyrics or in sequence (nor is it clear where any fascicle text ends, or even how, in context, a poem is bounded), "not choosing" is a textual issue; it is also a formal issue because Dickinson refused to chose among poetic variants; it is a thematic issue; and, finally, it is a philosophical one, since what is produced by "not choosing" is a radical indifference to difference. Extending the readings of Dickinson offered in her earlier book Lyric Time, Cameron continues to enlarge our understanding of the work of this singular American poet.

Deliberate Ignorance

Deliberate Ignorance
Author: Ralph Hertwig
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 398
Release: 2021-03-02
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0262045591

Psychologists, economists, historians, computer scientists, sociologists, philosophers, and legal scholars explore the conscious choice not to seek information. The history of intellectual thought abounds with claims that knowledge is valued and sought, yet individuals and groups often choose not to know. We call the conscious choice not to seek or use knowledge (or information) deliberate ignorance. When is this a virtue, when is it a vice, and what can be learned from formally modeling the underlying motives? On which normative grounds can it be judged? Which institutional interventions can promote or prevent it? In this book, psychologists, economists, historians, computer scientists, sociologists, philosophers, and legal scholars explore the scope of deliberate ignorance.

Learning to Choose, Choosing to Learn

Learning to Choose, Choosing to Learn
Author: Mike Anderson
Publisher: ASCD
Total Pages: 170
Release: 2016-04-20
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1416621865

Offering students choices about their learning, says author Mike Anderson, is one of the most powerful ways teachers can boost student learning, motivation, and achievement. In his latest book, Anderson offers numerous examples of choice in action, ideas to try with different students, and a step-by-step process to help you plan and incorporate choice into your classroom. You’ll explore * What effective student choice looks like in the classroom. * Why it’s important to offer students choices. * How to create learning environments, set the right tone for learning, and teach specific skills that enable choice to work well. When students have more choices about their learning, they can find ways of learning that match their personal needs and be more engaged in their work, building skills and work habits that will serve them well in school and beyond. This teacher-friendly guide offers everything you need to help students who are bored, frustrated, or underperforming come alive to learning through the fundamental power of choice.

How We Decide

How We Decide
Author: Jonah Lehrer
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Total Pages: 357
Release: 2010-01-14
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0547347480

The first book to use the unexpected discoveries of neuroscience to help us make the best decisions Since Plato, philosophers have described the decision-making process as either rational or emotional: we carefully deliberate, or we “blink” and go with our gut. But as scientists break open the mind’s black box with the latest tools of neuroscience, they’re discovering that this is not how the mind works. Our best decisions are a finely tuned blend of both feeling and reason—and the precise mix depends on the situation. When buying a house, for example, it’s best to let our unconscious mull over the many variables. But when we’re picking a stock, intuition often leads us astray. The trick is to determine when to use the different parts of the brain, and to do this, we need to think harder (and smarter) about how we think. Jonah Lehrer arms us with the tools we need, drawing on cutting-edge research as well as the real-world experiences of a wide range of “deciders”—from airplane pilots and hedge fund investors to serial killers and poker players. Lehrer shows how people are taking advantage of the new science to make better television shows, win more football games, and improve military intelligence. His goal is to answer two questions that are of interest to just about anyone, from CEOs to firefighters: How does the human mind make decisions? And how can we make those decisions better?

Choosing to Choose Better

Choosing to Choose Better
Author: Jennifer Usselman
Publisher:
Total Pages: 166
Release: 2020-12-03
Genre:
ISBN: 9781637324554

Jennifer Usselman uses raw honesty, humor, personal story and scripture to invite us on a journey to days lived with more love, joy, peace and the many gifts God offers us if we choose to sit with Him and learn the way to a better life, indeed the very best possible. Don't miss out. Let's lace up our walking shoes and put one foot and one choice in front of the other to a place called Better! An excerpt from Choosing to Choose Better: "I love choices. Don't you? I choose chocolate instead of vanilla, smooth over prickly, salty over sweet-no, actually I choose both of those twisted together! Choices are wonderful and somewhat mindless when we're talking about flavors or textures we prefer or styles of clothing and artwork. However, the choosing I would like to talk to you about is a kind that comes unnaturally. It is the intentional act of stopping before acting so you don't inflict hurt on yourself or others.... Have you ever felt like me? Dried out and hollow? Like you're ruining the life you have been given? I promise that if you trust God and His will for your life found in His Word, you will start to become new and transform in ways you cannot fathom. This is an invitation to all who feel deep down, or even at a surface level, that there is hope in real change and that if we want more connection, calm, and love in our lives it is indeed attainable, if only we choose to choose better. We are paused at the road's fork. Are you ready to do the unnatural? Trust me: this will only hurt a little..."Don't put off living your best life even one more day, let's do this!