Our last article looked at the choices we make and how we cope, albeit poorly, in an age of almost unlimited information. Where once we thought knowing every single nearby eatery or activity would lead to a world where each night could mean a new dish or different experience, we’ve instead found ourselves shunning the outside world more often than not in favor of Netflix and our favorite delivery option (so much so that there’s even a button for it now).
Variety is the spice of life but it’s as if we’ve over seasoned the dish and made it inedible.
The story doesn’t have to end here, with every challenge comes the chance for a solution to rise up and tackle the problem. That solution:
Lists.
But how is a list supposed to help you pick a restaurant, choose a show to go to, or even buy a car? The answer lies within the psychology built inside each and every list you use. In Nobel laureate professor Daniel Kahneman’s book Thinking Fast and Slow he introduces the concept of ‘What You See Is All There Is’ (WYSIATI). Simply put, human beings tend to focus on the information provided to us at the cost of considering any other possibilities beyond what’s in front of us.
Lists work in this way, they organize info into a select few criteria (best 10 cars under $20K, top 5 laptops, 4 places you have to try) and pull our attention towards them instead of endlessly moving to the next related piece of information.
Another way to think of it is how we use search engines. How often do you search past the first page of results? Probably not often. If it’s a search for your favorite website it makes sense that you wouldn’t go past the first page, your site probably shows up near the top. When you’re looking for other information (chocolate chip cookie recipes, movie tickets) where there might be several pages of relevant results or useful sites you likely don’t even think about what could be on page two. It’s true Google presents the most relevant results on page one but the point is less about not needing page two and more about how little page two even comes to mind.
This isn’t just the case with search engines, we rely on lists to manage too much choice. Laptops are a good example. When it comes to laptops there are different brands, operating systems, sizes and added technology. The possibilities are endless and unless you know what you want from the start it can be quite overwhelming.
This is why for most of us the search for a new laptop starts with a query online for ‘Best Laptops Under $X’ and results in a list compiled by an expert or someone that put the work in already. The list simplifies the world, now this top ten list has turned a world of thousands of laptop options into a world of just a few.
We eagerly sacrifice the benefit of so many other options for the comfort of a more manageable pool of information. Similar to how too much information can push us to become Maximizers (mentioned in our last article), lists can pull us towards a Satisficer mindset.
It’s no coincidence that in this age of Google and Yelp we see more and more lists, from best new lawnmowers to top ten places to get a burger we’re building list after list to simplify a world of limitless information. Visit almost any website, chances are much of the recent content produced is a list of some kind.
There’s more to lists than just a limited set of information, and the factors that make a list useful are varied including where that list comes from which is the subject of our next article.
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