Doing Better but Feeling Worse: The Paradox of Choice
Doing Better but Feeling Worse: The Paradox of Choice
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DOI：
10.1002/9780470939338.ch6
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发表时间：
2012-09
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
B. Schwartz;A. Ward
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
B. Schwartz;A. Ward
在美国，我们生活在一个自由和自主被视为高于一切的时代和地方，扩大“自决”的机会被视为个人心理健康和文化道德健康的标志。我们将选择视为我们拥有自由和自主的关键标志。不言而喻，选择是好的，选择越多越好。本章认为，选择以及随之而来的自由、自主和自决可能会变得过度，而当这种情况发生时，自由可能会被体验为一种导致痛苦的暴政。不受限制的自由会导致瘫痪。正是在重大限制内（在某种“规则”内）的自我决定才能带来福祉和最佳功能。未来最佳功能心理学的任务是确定哪些对自决的限制是关键的。不可否认，选择可以提高我们的生活质量。它使我们能够控制自己的命运，并在任何情况下都接近获得我们想要的东西。选择对于自主至关重要，而自主对于幸福来说绝对是基础。健康的人想要并且需要指导自己的生活。尽管许多需求是普遍的（食物、住房、医疗、社会支持、教育等），但我们繁荣发展所需的许多需求却是高度个性化的。选择使每个人能够在其资源范围内准确地追求最能满足其偏好的目标和活动。任何时间的选择都会受到某种程度的限制，
In the United States, we live in a time and a place in which freedom and autonomy are valued above all else and in which expanded opportunities for " self-determination " are regarded as a sign of the psychological well-being of individuals and the moral well-being of the culture. And we take choice as the critical sign that we have freedom and autonomy. It is axiomatic that choice is good, and that more choice is better. This chapter argues that choice, and with it freedom, autonomy, and self-determination, can become excessive, and that when that happens, freedom can be experienced as a kind of misery-inducing tyranny. Unconstrained freedom leads to paralysis. It is self-determination within significant constraints—within " rules " of some sort—that leads to well-being, to optimal functioning. And the task for a future psychology of optimal functioning is to identify which constraints on self-determination are the crucial ones. There is no denying that choice improves the quality of our lives. It enables us to control our destinies, and to come close to getting exactly what we want out of any situation. Choice is essential to autonomy, which is absolutely fundamental to well-being. Healthy people want and need to direct their own lives. Whereas many needs are universal (food, shelter, medical care, social support, education, and so on), much of what we need to flourish is highly individualized. Choice is what enables each person to pursue precisely those objects and activities that best satisfy his or her own preferences within the limits of his or her resources. Any time choice is restricted in some way, there