The paradox of choice | Barry Schwartz | TED

Translator: David J. Kreps Finnemann Reviewer: Anders Finn Jørgensen

I'm going to talk to you about some stuff that's in this book of mine

Jeg vil tale om nogle ting der er i en bog jeg har skrevet

that I hope will resonate with other things you've already heard,

som jeg håber vil give genlyd med andre ting I allerede har hørt,

and I'll try to make some connections myself,

og jeg vil prøve på at lave nogle forbindelser selv, i det tilfælde I skulle misse dem.

in case you miss them.

But I want to start with what I call the "official dogma."

Jeg vil starte med det jeg kalder det "officielle dogme".

The official dogma of what?

Det officielle dogme af hvad?

The official dogma of all Western industrial societies.

Det officielle dogme som alle samfund i vesten har.

And the official dogma runs like this:

Og det officielle dogme lyder sådan her:

if we are interested in maximizing the welfare of our citizens,

Hvis vi er interesserede i at maksimere vores borgeres velfærd,

the way to do that is to maximize individual freedom.

er måden at gøre det på, ved at maksimere individets frihed.

The reason for this is both that freedom is, in and of itself, good,

Grunden til det er, at frihed i sig selv er godt,

valuable, worthwhile, essential to being human,

værdifuldt, umagen værd, essentielt til det at være et menneske.

and because if people have freedom,

Og fordi mennesker har frihed,

then each of us can act on our own

så kan vi hver især handle for sig selv

to do the things that will maximize our welfare,

til at gøre ting der maksimerer vores velfærd,

and no one has to decide on our behalf.

og der er ingen der skal bestemme noget for os.

The way to maximize freedom is to maximize choice.

Måden til at maksimere frihed er at maksimere valg.

The more choice people have, the more freedom they have,

Jo flere valg mennesker har, jo mere frihed har de,

and the more freedom they have,

og jo mere frihed de har,

the more welfare they have.

jo mere velfærd har de.

This, I think, is so deeply embedded in the water supply

Det, mener jeg, er så grundliggende i modermælken

that it wouldn't occur to anyone to question it.

at det ikke ville strejfe nogen at sætte spørgsmålstegn ved det.

Og det er også grundliggende i vores liv.

And it's also deeply embedded in our lives.

I'll give you some examples

Jeg vil give jer nogle eksempler på hvad moderne fremskridt har gjort for os.

of what modern progress has made possible for us.

This is my supermarket.

Dette er mit supermarked. Ikke så stort.

Not such a big one.

I want to say just a word about salad dressing.

Jeg vil bare sige et par ord om salat dressing.

A hundred seventy-five salad dressings in my supermarket,

175 forskellige slags salat dressing i mit supermarked.

if you don't count the 10 extra-virgin olive oils

Hvis man ikke tæller de 10 ekstra jomfru oliven olier med

and 12 balsamic vinegars you could buy

og de 12 balsamiske eddiker man kan købe

to make a very large number of your own salad dressings,

til at lave en meget stor del af ens egen salat dressinger,

in the off-chance that none of the 175 the store has on offer suit you.

for det usandsynlige tilfælde, at ingen af de 175 som supermarked kan tilbyde tilfredsstiller en.

So this is what the supermarket is like.

Så det er sådan supermarkedet er.

And then you go to the consumer electronics store

Og så går man til forbrugerelektronik forretningen, for at købe et stereoanlæg --

to set up a stereo system --

speakers, CD player, tape player, tuner, amplifier --

højtalere, cd afspillere, båndoptagere, radioer, forstærkere --

and in this one single consumer electronics store,

og i denne ene forbrugerelektronikkæde,

there are that many stereo systems.

er der så mange stereoanlæg.

We can construct six and a half million different stereo systems

Vi kan sammensætte seks og en halv million forskellige stereoanlæg

out of the components that are on offer in one store.

fra de komponenter som denne forretning tilbyder.

You've got to admit that's a lot of choice.

Det må siges at være mange valgmuligheder.

In other domains -- the world of communications.

På andre områder -- kommunikationsverden.

There was a time, when I was a boy,

Der var en gang, da jeg var dreng,

when you could get any kind of telephone service you wanted,

at man kunne få et hvilket som helst telefonabonnement man ville have,

as long as it came from Ma Bell.

bare det kom fra Ma Bell.

You rented your phone, you didn't buy it.

Man lejede sin telefon. Man købte den ikke.

One consequence of that, by the way, is that the phone never broke.

En af konsekvenserne ved det var, forresten, er at telefonen aldrig gik i stykker.

And those days are gone.

Og den tid er forbi.

We now have an almost unlimited variety of phones,

Nu har vi et nærmest ubegrænset udvalg af telefoner,

especially in the world of cell phones.

specielt i mobiltelefon verden.

These are cell phones of the future.

Dette er fremtidens mobiltelefoner.

My favorite is the middle one --

Min favorit er den i midten --

the MP3 player, nose hair trimmer, and crème brûlée torch.

MP3 afspilleren, næsehårstrimmer, og creme brulee brænder.

And if --

Og hvis I tilfældigvis ikke skulle have set den i jeres forretning endnu,

(Laughter)

if by some chance you haven't seen that in your store yet,

you can rest assured that one day soon, you will.

kan I være sikre på at den nok skal komme snart.

And what this does is it leads people to walk into their stores,

Og hvad det gør er,

at det får folk til at gå ind til deres forretning og stille dette spørgsmål,

asking this question.

And do you know what the answer to this question now is?

Og ved I allerede hvad svaret på dette spørgsmål er?

The answer is "no."

Svaret er, "Nej".

It is not possible to buy a cell phone that doesn't do too much.

Det er ikke muligt at købe en mobiltelefon, der kan for meget.

So, in other aspects of life that are much more significant than buying things,

Så, i livets andre aspekter der er meget vigtigere end at købe ting,

the same explosion of choice is true.

er der kommet den samme eksplosion af valgmuligheder.

Health care.

Sundshedsvæsnet -- det er ikke længere sådan i USA,

It is no longer the case in the United States

that you go to the doctor, and the doctor tells you what to do.

at man tager til lægen, og lægen siger hvad man skal gøre.

Instead, you go to the doctor,

I stedet for, tager man til lægen,

and the doctor tells you, "Well, we could do A, or we could do B.

og lægen siger, "Jamen, vi kan gøre A, vi kan gøre B.

A has these benefits and these risks.

A har disse fordele, og disse risici.

B has these benefits and these risks.

B har disse fordele, og disse risici. Hvad synes du vi skal gøre?"

What do you want to do?"

And you say, "Doc, what should I do?"

Og man siger, "Doktor, hvad skal jeg gøre?"

And the doc says, "A has these benefits and risks,

Og lægen siger, "A har disse fordele og risici, B har disse fordele og risici.

and B has these benefits and risks.

What do you want to do?"

Hvad synes du vi skal gøre?"

And you say, "If you were me, Doc, what would you do?"

Og man siger, "Hvis du var mig Doktor, hvad ville du så gøre?"

And the doc says, "But I'm not you."

Og lægen siger, "Jamen jeg er ikke dig".

And the result is -- we call it "patient autonomy,"

Og resultatet er -- vi kalder det "patient selvstændighed".

which makes it sound like a good thing,

hvilket får det til at lyde som en god ting,

but what it really is is a shifting of the burden and the responsibility

men hvad det virkelig betyder er, at byrden og ansvaret for

beslutningen skifter fra en person der ved noget --

for decision-making

from somebody who knows something -- namely, the doctor --

nemlig lægen --

til en person der ingenting ved og næsten med sikkerhed er syg

to somebody who knows nothing and is almost certainly sick

and thus, not in the best shape to be making decisions --

og derfor ikke i den bedste tilstand til at tage nogen beslutninger --

namely, the patient.

nemlig patienten.

There's enormous marketing of prescription drugs

Der er et enormt marked for receptpligtig medicin

to people like you and me,

og mennesker som dig om mig,

which, if you think about it, makes no sense at all,

som, hvis man tænker over det, overhovedet ikke giver nogen mening,

since we can't buy them.

siden vi ikke kan købe dem.

Why do they market to us if we can't buy them?

Hvorfor markedsfører de dem til os, hvis vi ikke kan købe dem?

The answer is that they expect us to call our doctors the next morning

Svaret er, at de forventer at vi ringer til lægen dagen efter

and ask for our prescriptions to be changed.

og spørger om vi kan få ændret vores recept.

Something as dramatic as our identity

Noget så vigtigt som vores identitet

has now become a matter of choice,

er nu blevet et spørgsmål om valg,

as this slide is meant to indicate.

som denne slide viser.

We don't inherit an identity; we get to invent it.

Vi arver ikke en identitet; vi får lov til at opfinde den.

And we get to reinvent ourselves as often as we like.

Og vi får lov til at genopfinde os selv, så tit som vi har lyst til.

And that means that every day, when you wake up in the morning,

Og det betyder, at hver dag når man vågner om morgenen,

kan man vælge hvilken person man har lyst til at være.

you have to decide what kind of person you want to be.

With respect to marriage and family:

Al respekt for ægteskabet og familien,

there was a time when the default assumption that almost everyone had

der var en gang hvor den normale holdning som alle havde

is that you got married as soon as you could,

var, at man blev gift så snart man kunne,

and then you started having kids as soon as you could.

og så begyndte man at få børn så snart man kunne.

Det eneste rigtige valg var hvem,

The only real choice was who,

not when, and not what you did after.

ikke hvornår, og ikke hvad man gjorde bagefter.

Nowadays, everything is very much up for grabs.

Nu til dags, er alting til utrolig meget op til en selv.

I teach wonderfully intelligent students,

Jeg underviser utrolig intelligente studerende,

and I assign 20 percent less work than I used to.

og jeg uddeler 20 procent mindre arbejde end jeg plejede.

And it's not because they're less smart,

Og det er ikke fordi de er mindre kloge,

and it's not because they're less diligent.

og det er ikke fordi de ikke er lige så flittige.

It's because they are preoccupied, asking themselves,

Det er fordi de har travlt med at spørge sig selv,

"Should I get married or not? Should I get married now?

"Skulle jeg blive gift eller ej? Skulle jeg blive gift nu?

Should I get married later?

Skulle jeg blive gift senere? Skulle jeg have børn først, eller en karriere først?"

Should I have kids first or a career first?"

All of these are consuming questions.

Alle den slags opslugende spørgsmål.

And they're going to answer these questions,

Og de kommer til at svare på disse spørgsmål,

whether or not it means not doing all the work I assign

uanset om det betyder at de ikke kommer til at lave alt det arbejde jeg har delt ud eller ej,

and not getting a good grade in my courses.

og derfor ikke få en god karakter i mine fag.

And indeed they should.

Og det burde de også. Det er vigtige spørgsmål at svare på.

These are important questions to answer.

Work.

Arbejde -- vi er velsignede, som Carl sagde,

We are blessed, as Carl was pointing out,

with the technology that enables us to work every minute of every day

med den teknologi der gør os i stand til

at arbejde hvert minut af hver dag, fra hvilket som helst sted i verden --

from any place on the planet --

except the Randolph Hotel.

bortset fra Randolph Hotel.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

(Applause)

There is one corner, by the way,

Der er et hjørne, forresten,

that I'm not going to tell anybody about, where the WiFi actually works.

som jeg ikke fortæller nogen om, hvor WiFi virker.

I'm not telling you about it, because I want to use it.

Jeg vil ikke fortælle jeg hvor, for jeg vil selv bruge det.

So what this means,

Så hvad det her betyder, denne enorme valgfrihed

this incredible freedom of choice we have with respect to work,

vi har med henblik på arbejde, er at vi skal træffe et valg,

is that we have to make a decision,

again and again and again,

igen og igen og igen,

about whether we should or shouldn't be working.

om hvorvidt vi skulle arbejde eller ikke skulle arbejde.

We can go to watch our kid play soccer,

Vi kan se vores barn spille fodbold,

and we have our cell phone on one hip and our Blackberry on our other hip,

og vi kan have vores mobiltelefon på den ene hofte,

og vores Blackberry på den anden hofte,

and our laptop, presumably, on our laps.

og vores bærbare, formodentlig, på vores lår.

And even if they're all shut off,

Og selvom de alle er slukket,

every minute that we're watching our kid mutilate a soccer game,

hvert eneste minut vi ser vores barn skamfere fodboldsporten,

we are also asking ourselves,

spørger vi også os selv,

"Should I answer this cell phone call?

"Skulle jeg besvare dette opkald?

Should I respond to this email? Should I draft this letter?"

Skulle jeg svare på denne mail? Skulle jeg lave et udkast til dette brev?"

And even if the answer to the question is "no,"

Og selvom svaret på spørgsmålet er "nej",

it's certainly going to make the experience of your kid's soccer game

vil det helt sikkert ændre oplevelsen af vores barns fodboldkamp

very different than it would've been.

til noget helt andet end det ellers ville have været.

So everywhere we look,

Så uanset hvor vi ser hen,

big things and small things, material things and lifestyle things,

store ting og små ting, materielle ting og livstilsting,

life is a matter of choice.

livet handler om valg.

And the world we used to live in looked like this.

Og verden vi plejede at leve i, så sådan her ud.

[Well, actually, they are written in stone.]

That is to say, there were some choices,

Det vil sige, at der var nogle valg der skulle træffes,

but not everything was a matter of choice.

men ikke alt handlede om valg.

The world we now live in looks like this.

Og den verden vi lever i nu, ser sådan her ud.

[The Ten Commandments Do-It-Yourself Kit]

Og spørgsmålet er, er det godt nyt, eller dårligt nyt?

And the question is: Is this good news or bad news?

And the answer is "yes."

Og svaret er ja.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

We all know what's good about it,

Vi ved alle hvad der er godt ved den,

so I'm going to talk about what's bad about it.

så jeg vil tale om, hvad der er dårligt ved den.

All of this choice has two effects,

Alle disse valg har to sideeffekter,

two negative effects on people.

to negative sideeffekter på mennesker.

One effect, paradoxically,

En siddeeffekt, paradoksalt nok,

is that it produces paralysis rather than liberation.

er at det forårsager handlingslammelse, frem for frihed.

With so many options to choose from,

Når der er så mange valgmuligheder at vælge i mellem,

people find it very difficult to choose at all.

synes mennesker det er meget svært at vælge noget i det hele taget.

I'll give you one very dramatic example of this,

Jeg vil give jer nogle meget dramatiske eksempler på dette:

a study that was done of investments in voluntary retirement plans.

der er lavet et studie over investeringer i frivillige pensionsordninger.

A colleague of mine got access to investment records from Vanguard,

En af mine kolleger fik adgang til investeringsoversigter fra Vanguard,

the gigantic mutual fund company,

det gigantiske investeringsselskab

of about a million employees and about 2,000 different workplaces.

med cirka en million ansatte og cirka 2.000 forskellige arbejdspladser.

What she found is that for every 10 mutual funds the employer offered,

Og det hun fandt ud af var,

at for hver 10 investeringsselskab som arbejdsgiveren tilbød,

rate of participation went down two percent.

faldt deltagelsen med to procent.

You offer 50 funds -- 10 percent fewer employees participate

Så man tilbyder 50 fonde -- 10 procent færre ansatte deltager

than if you only offer five.

end hvis man kun tilbyder fem. Hvorfor?

Why?

Because with 50 funds to choose from,

Fordi med 50 fonde at vælge i mellem,

it's so damn hard to decide which fund to choose,

er det så forbandet svært at vælge hvilken fond man skal tage

that you'll just put it off till tomorrow,

at man bare udskyder det til i morgen.

and then tomorrow

Og så i morgen, og så i morgen,

and then tomorrow and tomorrow,

og i morgen, og i morgen,

and, of course, tomorrow never comes.

og selvfølgelig kommer i morgen aldrig.

Understand that not only does this mean

Og dette betyder ikke kun

that people are going to have to eat dog food when they retire

at mennesker kommer til at spise hundemad når de går på pension

because they don't have enough money put away,

fordi de ikke har sparet nok penge sammen,

it also means that making the decision is so hard

det betyder også at beslutningen er så svær,

that they pass up significant matching money from the employer.

at de siger nej tak til en anseelig pengesum fra arbejdsgiveren.

By not participating, they are passing up as much as 5,000 dollars a year

Ved ikke at deltage, siger de nej tak til op til 5.000 dollars om året,

from the employer,

fra deres arbejdsgiver, der gladeligt vil matche deres bidrag.

who would happily match their contribution.

So paralysis is a consequence of having too many choices.

Så handlingslammelse er en af konsekvenserne ved at have for mange valgmuligheder.

And I think it makes the world look like this.

Og jeg mener det får verden til at se sådan ud.

[And lastly, for all eternity, French, bleu cheese or ranch?]

(Latter)

(Laughter)

You really want to get the decision right if it's for all eternity, right?

Man vil virkelig gerne sørge for at træffe den rigtige beslutning, hvis den gælder i al evighed, ikke?

You don't want to pick the wrong mutual fund or wrong salad dressing.

Man vil ikke vælge den forkerte fond, eller selv den forkerte salat dressing.

So that's one effect.

Så det er en effekt. Den anden effekt er, at

The second effect is that, even if we manage to overcome the paralysis

selv hvis vi kan overkomme handlingslammelsen og træffe et valg,

and make a choice,

we end up less satisfied with the result of the choice

ender vi med at være mindre tilfredse med valget

than we would be if we had fewer options to choose from.

end vi ville have været, hvis der havde været færre valgmuligheder at vælge i mellem.

And there are several reasons for this.

Og det er der adskillige grunde til.

One of them is, with a lot of different salad dressings to choose from,

En af dem er, at med alle de salatdressinger at vælge i mellem,

if you buy one and it's not perfect -- and what salad dressing is? --

hvis man køber en, og den ikke er perfekt -- og, I ved, hvilken salat dressing er det? --

it's easy to imagine that you could've made a different choice

er det nemt at forestille sig at man kunne have træffet et andet valg

that would've been better.

der ville have været bedre. Og det der sker er,

And what happens is,

this imagined alternative induces you to regret the decision you made,

at dette forestillede alternativ får en til at fortryde den beslutning man har truffet,

and this regret subtracts from the satisfaction you get

og denne fortrydelse fjerner glæden man får ud af det valg man har truffet,

out of the decision you made,

even if it was a good decision.

selv om det var et godt valg.

The more options there are, the easier it is to regret anything at all

Jo flere valgmuligheder der er, jo nemmere er det at fortryde noget som helst

that is disappointing about the option that you chose.

der er skuffende ved den valgmulighed man valgte.

Second, what economists call "opportunity costs."

For det andet, det økonomer kalder "alternativ omkostninger".

Dan Gilbert made a big point this morning

Dan Gilbert fremhævede en stor pointe denne morgen

of talking about how much the way in which we value things

ved at tale meget om den måde hvorpå vi værdisætter ting

depends on what we compare them to.

afhænger af hvad vi sammenligner dem med.

Well, when there are lots of alternatives to consider,

Jamen, når der er mange alternativer at tage i betragtning,

it's easy to imagine the attractive features of alternatives that you reject

er det nemt at forestille sig attraktive sider

af de alternativer man afviser,

that make you less satisfied with the alternative that you've chosen.

der gør at man er mindre glad for det alternativ man har valgt.

Here's an example.

[I can't stop thinking about those other available parking spaces on W 85th Street]

Her er et eksempel. Jeg undskylder overfor jer der ikke er New Yorkere.

If you're not a New Yorker, I apologize.

(Latter)

Men her er det I skal forestille Jer.

Here's what you're supposed to be thinking.

Her er et par fra Hamptons.

Here's this couple on the Hamptons. Very expensive real estate.

Meget dyr ejendom.

Gorgeous beach. Beautiful day. They have it all to themselves.

Dejlig strand. Smuk dag. De har det hele for sig selv.

What could be better?

Hvad kunne være bedre? "Jamen, for fanden,"

"Damn it," this guy is thinking,

tænker denne fyr, "Det er august.

"It's August. Everybody in my Manhattan neighborhood is away.

Alle i mit nabolag i Manhattan er væk.

I could be parking right in front of my building."

Jeg kunne parkere lige foran min hoveddør lige nu".

And he spends two weeks nagged by the idea

Og han bruger to uger på at være naget af ideen om,

that he is missing the opportunity, day after day,

at han går glip af muligheden for, dag efter dag, at have en fed parkeringsplads.

to have a great parking space.

(Laughter)

Opportunity costs subtract from the satisfaction

Alternativ omkostninger fjerner noget af glæden vi får ud af det vi vælger,

that we get out of what we choose,

even when what we choose is terrific.

selv når det vi vælger er fantastisk.

And the more options there are to consider,

Og jo flere valgmuligheder der er at tage i betragtning,

the more attractive features of these options

jo mere attraktive egenskaberne af disse valgmuligheder er

are going to be reflected by us as opportunity costs.

vil blive afspejlet af os som alternativ omkostninger.

Here's another example.

Her er et andet eksempel.

(Laughter)

Now, this cartoon makes a lot of points.

Denne vittighedstegning understreger nogle gode pointer.

It makes points about living in the moment as well,

Den viser points om at leve i nuet,

and probably about doing things slowly.

og sikkert om at gøre tingene langsomt.

But one point it makes is that whenever you're choosing one thing,

Men en pointe den fremsætter er, at hver gang man vælger en ting,

you're choosing not to do other things,

vælger man ikke at gøre andre ting.

and those other things may have lots of attractive features,

Og de andre ting har måske mange attraktive egenskaber

and it's going to make what you're doing

og det kommer til at gøre det man vælger mindre attraktivt.

less attractive.

Third: escalation of expectations.

For det tredje: optrapning af forventninger.

This hit me when I went to replace my jeans.

Det slog mig da jeg ville erstatte mine cowboybukser.

I wear jeans almost all the time.

Jeg har næsten altid cowboybukser på.

There was a time when jeans came in one flavor,

Og der var engang, hvor cowboybukser så ud på en bestemt måde,

and you bought them, and they fit like crap.

og man købte dem, og de passede af helvede til,

They were incredibly uncomfortable,

og de var utrolig ubehagelige,

and if you wore them long enough and washed them enough times,

og hvis man gik med dem i lang nok tid og vaskede dem nok gange,

they started to feel OK.

begyndte de at sidde ok.

I went to replace my jeans after years of wearing these old ones.

Så jeg ville erstatte mine cowboybukser efter i årevis at have gået med de samme,

I said, "I want a pair of jeans. Here's my size."

og jeg sagde, I ved, "Jeg vil have et par cowboybukser. Det her er min størrelse".

And the shopkeeper said,

Og butiksindehaveren sagde,

"Do you want slim fit, easy fit, relaxed fit?

"Vil du have slim fit, easy fit, relaxed fit?

You want button fly or zipper fly? You want stonewashed or acid-washed?

Vil du have gylp eller lynlås? Vil du have stenvaskede eller syrevaskede?

Do you want them distressed?

Vil du have dem nervøse?

Do you want boot cut, tapered?" Blah, blah, blah on and on he went.

Vil du have dem ned til skoen, vil du have dem tilspidset, bla bla bla .." Han blev ved og ved.

My jaw dropped.

Jeg tabte kæben og efter jeg kom mig sagde jeg,

And after I recovered, I said,

"I want the kind that used to be the only kind."

"Jeg vil have den slags, der plejede at være den eneste slags".

(Laughter)

(Latter)

He had no idea what that was.

Han havde ingen anelse om hvad det var,

(Laughter)

så jeg brugte en time på at prøve alle disse forbandende cowboybukser,

So I spent an hour trying on all these damn jeans,

and I walked out of the store -- truth --

og jeg gik ud af butikken -- sandt! -- med de bedst siddende cowboybukser jeg nogensinde har haft.

with the best-fitting jeans I had ever had.

I did better.

Jeg fik noget bedre. Alle disse valgmuligheder gjorde det muligt for mig at få noget bedre.

All this choice made it possible for me to do better.

But --

Men jeg havde det dårligere.

I felt worse.

Why? I wrote a whole book to try to explain this to myself.

Hvorfor? Jeg skrev en hel bog for at prøve at forklare det for mig selv. (Latter)

The reason is --

Grunden til at jeg havde det dårligere var, at

(Laughter)

The reason I felt worse is that with all of these options available,

med alle disse valgmuligheder,

my expectations about how good a pair of jeans should be went up.

var mine forventninger om hvad et par gode cowboybukser var, gik op.

I had very low, no particular expectations when they only came in one flavor.

Jeg havde meget lave --

jeg havde ikke nogen specielle forventninger da de kun kom i en variant.

When they came in 100 flavors, damn it, one of them should've been perfect.

Da de udkom i 100 varianter, for dælen,

en af dem burde være perfekt.

And what I got was good, but it wasn't perfect.

Og det jeg fik var godt, men det var ikke perfekt.

And so I compared what I got to what I expected,

Så jeg sammenlignede det jeg fik, med det jeg forventede,

and what I got was disappointing in comparison to what I expected.

og hvad jeg fik var skuffende, i forhold til hvad jeg havde forventet.

At tilføje valgmuligheder til menneskers liv

Adding options to people's lives

can't help but increase the expectations people have

kan kun forøge de forventninger mennesker har

about how good those options will be.

om hvor gode disse valgmuligheder er.

And what that's going to produce is less satisfaction with results,

Og hvad det kommer til at betyde, er mindre tilfredshed med resultaterne,

even when they're good results.

selv når det er gode resultater.

[It all looks so great. I can't wait to be disappointed.]

Ingen i marketingsverden ved dette,

Nobody in the world of marketing knows this.

fordi hvis de gjorde, ville I ikke allesammen vide hvad det handler om.

Because if they did, you wouldn't all know what this was about.

The truth is more like this.

Sandheden er, det ligner det her mere.

[Everything was better back when everything was worse.]

(Latter)

The reason that everything was better back when everything was worse

Grunden til at alt var bedre dengang alt var værre

is that when everything was worse,

er at dengang alt var værre,

it was actually possible for people

var det faktisk muligt for mennesker at have oplevelser, der var en behagelig overraskelse.

to have experiences that were a pleasant surprise.

Nowadays, the world we live in -- we affluent, industrialized citizens,

Nu til dags, den verden vi lever i -- vi velstående, industrialiserede borgere,

with perfection the expectation --

hvor perfektion er forventningen --

the best you can ever hope for

det bedste man kan håbe på, er at ting er lige så gode som man forventer de er.

is that stuff is as good as you expect it to be.

You will never be pleasantly surprised,

Man vil aldrig få en behagelig overraskelse

because your expectations, my expectations,

fordi ens forventninger, mine forventninger, er røget i vejret.

have gone through the roof.

The secret to happiness -- this is what you all came for --

Hemmeligheden bag lykke -- det her er hvad I alle kom efter --

the secret to happiness is:

hemmeligheden bag lykke er lave forventninger.

low expectations.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

[You'll do]

(Bifald)

(Applause)

(Laughter)

I want to say --

Jeg vil sige -- bare et lille selvbiografisk øjeblik --

just a little autobiographical moment --

that I actually am married to a wife,

at jeg faktisk er gift med en kone,

and she's really quite wonderful.

og hun er faktisk ret vidunderlig.

I couldn't have done better.

Jeg kunne ikke have gjort det bedre. Jeg nøjedes ikke.

I didn't settle.

But settling isn't always such a bad thing.

Men at nøjedes er ikke altid så dårligt.

Finally,

Til sidst, en af konsekvenserne af at købe et dårligt par passende cowboybukser

one consequence of buying a bad-fitting pair of jeans

when there is only one kind to buy

når der kun findes en variant man kan at købe

is that when you are dissatisfied and you ask why, who's responsible,

er, at når man er utilfreds, og man spørger hvorfor,

hvem er ansvarlig, er svaret tydeligt:

the answer is clear: the world is responsible.

verden er ansvarlig. Hvad kan man gøre?

What could you do?

When there are hundreds of different styles of jeans available

Når der er hundredvis af forskellige stile af cowboybukser at vælge mellem,

and you buy one that is disappointing

og man køber et par der er utilfredsstillende,

and you ask why, who's responsible,

og man spørger hvorfor, hvem er ansvarlig?

it is equally clear that the answer to the question is "you."

Det er lige så tydeligt at svaret på spørgsmålet er en selv.

You could have done better.

Man kunne selv have gjort det bedre.

With a hundred different kinds of jeans on display,

Men hundredvis af forskellige cowboybukser i udstilling,

there is no excuse for failure.

er der ikke nogen undskyldning for fiasko.

And so when people make decisions,

Så når mennesker tager beslutninger,

and even though the results of the decisions are good,

og selvom resultatet af beslutningen er godt,

they feel disappointed about them;

føler dig sig skuffede over dem;

they blame themselves.

de bebrejder sig selv.

Clinical depression has exploded in the industrial world

Kliniske depressioner er eksploderede i den industrialiserede verden blandt den seneste generation.

in the last generation.

I believe a significant -- not the only, but a significant -- contributor

Jeg mener en betydningsfuld -- ikke den eneste, men en betydningsfuld -- medvirkende årsag

to this explosion of depression and also suicide,

til denne eksplosion af depression, og også selvmord,

is that people have experiences that are disappointing

er at mennesker har oplevelser der er skuffende

because their standards are so high,

fordi deres standard er så høj,

and then when they have to explain these experiences to themselves,

at når de skal forklare disse oplevelser overfor sig selv,

they think they're at fault.

så tror de at det er deres skyld.

So the net result is that we do better in general, objectively,

Så nettoresultatet er, at vi generelt gør det bedre, objektivt set,

and we feel worse.

og vi har det dårligere.

So let me remind you:

Så lad mig påminde jer.

this is the official dogma, the one that we all take to be true,

Dette er det officielle dogme, det som vi alle ser som værende sandt,

and it's all false.

og det er alt sammen forkert. Det er ikke sandt.

It is not true.

There's no question that some choice is better than none.

Der er ikke nogen tvivl om, at nogen valgmulighed er bedre end ingen,

But it doesn't follow from that

men det betyder ikke at flere valgmuligheder er bedre end nogen valgmulighed.

that more choice is better than some choice.

There's some magical amount. I don't know what it is.

Der er et magisk antal. Jeg ved ikke hvad det er.

I'm pretty confident that we have long since passed the point

Jeg er ret sikker på, at vi for længst er nået forbi det punkt

where options improve our welfare.

hvor valgmuligheder forbedrer vores velfærd.

Now, as a policy matter -- I'm almost done --

Så, som målsætning -- jeg er næsten færdig --

as a policy matter, the thing to think about is this:

som målsætning, handler det om at tænke på dette:

what enables all of this choice in industrial societies

det der muliggør alle disse valgmuligheder i industrielle samfund er velstand.

is material affluence.

There are lots of places in the world,

Der er masser af steder i verden,

and we have heard about several of them,

og vi har hørt om flere af dem,

where their problem is not that they have too much choice.

hvor problemet ikke er at de har for mange valgmuligheder.

Deres problemer er at de har for få.

Their problem is they have too little.

So the stuff I'm talking about is the peculiar problem

Så de ting jeg snakker om er det besynderlige problem

of modern, affluent, Western societies.

i moderne, velstående vestlige samfund.

And what is so frustrating and infuriating is this:

Og det der er så frustrerende og ophidsende er dette:

Steve Levitt talked to you yesterday

Steve Levitt talte til jer i går om hvordan

about how these expensive and difficult-to-install child seats

disse dyre og svært installerbare børnesæder ikke hjælper. Det er spild af penge.

don't help.

It's a waste of money.

What I'm telling you is that these expensive, complicated choices --

Det jeg fortæller Jer er at disse dyre, komplicerede valg --

it's not simply that they don't help.

det er ikke at de simpelthen ikke hjælper.

They actually hurt.

De skader faktisk.

They actually make us worse off.

De sætter os i en dårligere position.

If some of what enables people in our societies

Hvis noget af det der sætter mennesker i vores samfund i stand til at træffe alle de valg vi træffer,

to make all of the choices we make

were shifted to societies in which people have too few options,

blev flyttet til samfund hvor mennesker har for få valgmuligheder,

not only would those people's lives be improved,

ville disse menneskers liv ikke kun blev forbedret,

but ours would be improved also.

men vores ville også blive forbedret.

This is what economists call a "Pareto-improving move."

Dette er hvad økonomer kalder "Pareto-forbedrende træk".

Income redistribution will make everyone better off,

Indkomst omfordeling vil sørge for at alle får det bedre -- ikke kun de fattige mennesker --

not just poor people,

because of how all this excess choice plagues us.

på grund af måden hvorpå denne overflod af valgmuligheder plager os.

So to conclude.

[You can be anything you want to be -- no limits.]

Så for at konkludere. Det er meningen I læser denne vittighedstegning,

You're supposed to read this cartoon and, being a sophisticated person, say,

og, værende et sofistikeret menneske, sige,

"Ah! What does this fish know? Nothing is possible in this fishbowl."

"Ah! Hvad ved denne fisk?

Du ved, ingenting er muligt i denne kumme."

Impoverished imagination, a myopic view of the world --

En forarmet fantasi, et snæversynet syn på verden --

that's the way I read it at first.

og det er måden hvorpå jeg først læste den.

The more I thought about it, however,

Jo mere jeg dog tænkte på den,

the more I came to the view that this fish knows something.

jo mere fik jeg opfattelsen at denne fisk ved noget.

Because the truth of the matter is,

Fordi sandheden er at

if you shatter the fishbowl so that everything is possible,

hvis man smadrer kummen så alt er muligt,

you don't have freedom.

You have paralysis.

har man ikke frihed. Man er handlingslammet.

If you shatter this fishbowl so that everything is possible,

Hvis man smadrer denne kumme så alt er muligt,

you decrease satisfaction.

formindsker man tilfredshed.

You increase paralysis, and you decrease satisfaction.

Man forøger handlingslammelse, og man formindsker tilfredshed.

Everybody needs a fishbowl.

Alle har brug for en kumme.

This one is almost certainly too limited --

Denne er næsten med sikkerhed for begrænset --

perhaps even for the fish, certainly for us.

måske endda for fiskene, bestemt for os.

But the absence of some metaphorical fishbowl is a recipe for misery

Men fraværet af en metaforisk kumme er en opskrift på elendighed,

and, I suspect, disaster.

og, formoder jeg, katastrofe.

Thank you very much.

Mange tak.

(Applause)

(Bifald)