88. People Think Choice Equals Control
Even though we know that it is best to limit the number of choices you give people during your presentation, it’s important that you provide some options, because people equate choice with being in control, and they feel a need to be in control.
In The Art of Choosing (2010), Sheena Iyengar describes an experiment with rats. The rats were given a choice of a direct path to food, or a path that had branches and therefore required choices to be made. Both paths resulted in access to the same food in the same amounts. If all the rats wanted was food, then they should have taken the short, direct path. But the rats continuously preferred the path with branches.
In experiments with monkeys and pigeons, the animals ...
Get 100 Things Every Presenter Needs to Know About People now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
