Choice makes North Americans feel more in control, free, and independent, and thus has many positive consequences for individuals’ motivation and well-being. We report five studies that uncovered novel consequences of choice for public policy and interpersonal judgments. Studies 1 through 3 found that activating the concept of choice decreases support for policies promoting intergroup equality (e.g., affirmative action) and societal benefits (e.g., reducing environmental pollution), but increases support for policies promoting individual rights (e.g., legalizing drugs). Studies 4 and 5 found that activating the concept of choice increases victim blaming and decreases empathy for disadvantaged people. Study 5 found that choice does not decrease Indians’ empathy for disadvantaged individuals, indicating that the social and interpersonal consequences of choice are likely culture-specific. This research suggests that the well-known positive effects of choice for individuals can be accompanied by an array of previously unexamined and potentially negative outcomes for other people and for society.
BoboL. (1998). Race, interests, and beliefs about affirmative action: Unanswered questions and new directions. American Behavioral Scientist, 41, 985–1003.
2.
BraunigW. A. (2005). Reflexive law solutions for factory farm pollution. New York University Law Review, 80, 1505–1548.
3.
BushmanB. J.AndersonC. A. (2001). Media violence and the American public: Scientific facts versus media misinformation. American Psychologist, 56, 477–489.
FrankT. (2004). What is the matter with Kansas?New York, NY: Henry Holt & Co.
6.
GalinskyA. D.MageeJ. C.InesiM. E.GruenfeldD. H. (2006). Power and perspectives not taken. Psychological Science, 17, 1068–1074.
7.
GneezyA.GneezyU.NelsonL. D.BrownA. (2010). Shared social responsibility: A field experiment in pay-what-you-want pricing and charitable giving. Science, 329, 325–327.
8.
GreeneD. L.PattersonP. D.SinghM.LiJ. (2005). Feebates, rebates and gas-guzzler taxes: A study of incentives for increased fuel economy. Energy Policy, 33, 757–775.
9.
HansonJ.HansonK. (2006). The blame frame: Justifying (racial) injustice in America. Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, 41, 413–480.
10.
IyengarS. S. (2010). The art of choosing. New York, NY: Twelve.
11.
IyengarS. S.LepperM. R. (1999). Rethinking the value of choice: A cultural perspective on intrinsic motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 349–366.
12.
IyengarS. S.LepperM. (2000). When choice is demotivating: Can one desire too much of a good thing?Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 995–1006.
13.
JiL. J.PengK.NisbettR. E. (2000). Culture, control, and perception of relationships in the environment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 943–955.
14.
KayA. C.JostJ. T.YoungS. (2005). Victim derogation and victim enhancement as alternate routes to system justification. Psychological Science, 16, 240–246.
15.
KemmelmeierM.JamborE. E.LetnerJ. (2006). Individualism and good works: Cultural variation in giving and volunteering across the United States. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 37, 327–344.
16.
KravitzD. A.KlinebergS. L.AveryD. R.NguyenA. K.LundC.FuE. (2000). Attitudes toward affirmative action: Correlations with demographic variables and with beliefs about targets, actions, and economic effects. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 30, 1109–1136.
17.
LambertA. J.RaichleK. (2000). The role of political ideology in mediating judgments of blame in rape victims and their assailants: A test of the just world, personal responsibility, and legitimization hypotheses. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26, 853–863.
18.
LernerM. J.MillerD. T. (1978). Just world research and the attribution process: Looking back and ahead. Psychological Bulletin, 85, 1030–1051.
19.
LernerM. J.SimmonsC. H. (1966). The observer’s reaction to the “innocent victim”: Compassion or rejection?Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 4, 203–210.
20.
MarkusH. R.KitayamaS. (2003). Models of agency: Sociocultural diversity in the construction of action. In Murphy-BurmanV.BermanJ. (Eds.), Nebraska Symposium on Motivation: Vol. 49. Cross cultural differences in perspectives on self (pp. 1–57). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
21.
MarkusH. R.SchwartzB. (2010). Does choice mean freedom and well-being?Journal of Consumer Research, 37, 344–355.
22.
MarkusH. R.UchidaY.OmoregieH.TownsendS.KitayamaS. (2006). Going for the gold: Models of agency in Japanese and American contexts. Psychological Science, 17, 103–112.
23.
MillerJ. G. (2003). Culture and agency: Implications for psychological theories of motivation and social development. In Murphy-BurmanV.BermanJ. (Eds.), Nebraska Symposium on Motivation: Vol. 49. Cross cultural differences in perspectives on self (pp. 59–99). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
24.
MillerJ. G.BersoffD. M.HarwoodR. L. (1990). Perceptions of social responsibilities in India and in the United States: Moral imperatives or personal decisions?Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 33–46.
25.
MorlingB.EveredS. (2006). Secondary control reviewed and defined. Psychological Bulletin, 132, 269–296.
26.
NaJ.KitayamaS. (2010). Will people work hard on a task they choose? Both culture and social-eyes priming matter. Unpublished manuscript, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
27.
PatallE. A.CooperH.RobinsonJ. C. (2008). The effects of choice on intrinsic motivation and related outcomes: A meta-analysis of research findings. Psychological Bulletin, 134, 270–300.
28.
RyanR. M.DeciE. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55, 68–78.
29.
SavaniK.MarkusH. R.ConnerA. L. (2008). Let your preference be your guide? Preferences and choices are more tightly linked for Americans than for Indians. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 861–876.
30.
SavaniK.MarkusH. R.NaiduN. V. R.KumarS.BerliaN. (2010). What counts as a choice? U.S. Americans are more likely than Indians to construe actions as choices. Psychological Science, 21, 391–398.
31.
SavaniK.MorrisM. W.NaiduN. V. R.KumarS.BerliaN. V. (2011). Cultural conditioning: Understanding interpersonal accommodation in India and the U.S. in terms of the modal characteristics of interpersonal influence situations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100, 84–102.
32.
SchwartzB. (2004). The paradox of choice: Why more is less. New York, NY: Harper Collins.
33.
SmallD. A.LoewensteinG.SlovicP. (2007). Sympathy and callousness: The impact of deliberative thought on donations to identifiable and statistical victims. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 102, 143–153.
34.
StephensN. M.FrybergS.MarkusH. R. (2011). When choice does not equal freedom: A sociocultural analysis of agency in working-class contexts. Social and Personality Psychology Science, 2, 33–41.
35.
StephensN. M.HamedaniM. G.MarkusH. R.BergsiekerH. B.EloulL. (2009). Why did they “choose” to stay? Perspectives of Hurricane Katrina observers and survivors. Psychological Science, 20, 878–886.
36.
StephensN. M.MarkusH. R.TownsendS. M. (2007). Choice as an act of meaning: The case of social class. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93, 814–830.
37.
VohsK. D.BaumeisterR. F.SchmeichelB. J.TwengeJ. M.NelsonN. M.TiceD. M. (2008). Making choices impairs subsequent self-control: A limited-resource account of decision making, self-regulation, and active initiative. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94, 883–898.
38.
VohsK. D.MeadeN. L.GoodeM. R. (2006). The psychological consequences of money. Science, 314, 1154–1156.
39.
WeichaJ. L.FinkelsteinD.TropedP. J.FragalaM.PetersonK. E. (2006). School vending machine use and fast-food restaurant use are associated with sugar-sweetened beverage intake in youth. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 106, 1624–1630.
40.
WeinsteinN.RyanR. M. (2010). When helping helps: Autonomous motivation for prosocial behavior and its influence on well-being for the helper and recipient. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98, 222–244.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
