The Art of Choosing Sheena Iyengar Ted Talk Summary

Psycho-economist Sheena Iyengar does her research at Columbia Business School, and has published the popular book The Art of Choosing to draw her findings on what happens when we have too many–or not enough–choices, and how we brand decisions large and small, from which soda to drink to whether to pursue physician-assisted suicide. And when she spoke at TED Global in 2010, she joined the ranks of 1 of the very few TED speakers to employ a lectern. Just that was but because she happens to be bullheaded.

Until an adjutant helped her walk across the stage to that lectern, no mention of her blindness had been made in the plan. And and so the audience got to hear a clear-equally-a-bell description of the experiments she has conducted that let us come across our own choices. The adult female whose ain choices don't include vision then used those findings to explain that Americans are a nation that believes in limitless choices:

The story Americans tell, the story upon which the American dream depends, is the story of limitless option. This narrative promises so much:liberty, happiness, success. Information technology lays the world at your anxiety and says, "You can take anything, everything." Information technology's a great story, and it's understandable why they would be reluctant to revise it. But when you lot take a close expect, yous starting time to see the holes, and yous start to come across that the story tin be told in many other means.

Americans accept then oft tried to disseminate their ideas of choice, believing that they volition be, or ought to exist, welcomed with open hearts and minds. But the history books and the daily news tell u.s. information technology doesn't always work out that way. The phantasmagoria, the bodily experience that we try to empathise and organize through narrative, varies from place to place. No single narrative serves the needs of everyone everywhere. Moreover, Americans themselves could do good from incorporating new perspectives into their ain narrative, which has been driving their choices for and then long.

At the end of her talk, the host comes out on the stage with her and says, "Sheena, at that place is a particular about your biography that nosotros take not written in the program book. Only by now it's evident to everyone in this room. You're blind. And I guess one of the questions on everybody'due south mind is: How does that influence your report of choosing considering that'southward an activity that for most people is associated with visual inputs like aesthetics and color and so on?" Her answer involves a personal story well-nigh trying to choose between two like shades of boom polish, based on the recommendations of others–and how that prompted yet another slice of research.

What can yous learn from this famous speech?

Your limitations don't have to prevent you from speaking: Having help to walk on and offstage and a lectern are all the "extras" Iyengar needed to deliver this talk. Otherwise, it'south a classic TED talk, mixing intriguing research that makes us think about ourselves in a new style with personal stories from the speaker. Think most that the side by side time you're considering what limits yous from speaking.
If you lot're speaking about research, aim for clarity: Iyengar's work looks at circuitous decision-making processes, most of which nosotros experience simply take for granted and don't examine closely. Yet her descriptions of the enquiry are brief and clear, able to be understood by all because they're described in simple, approachable ways. Many researchers fret almost having to "dumb downwardly" their caption of their work, which insults the audience. Iyengar makes it clear so we can follow her complex thinking. It makes a big departure.
How will you describe yourself? Every speaker needs to anticipate speaking about herself, whether she's introducing herself, telling a personal story or explaining in answer to the host'south question how her blindness affects her piece of work. Iyengar handles this smoothly, noting "one of the things that'southward interesting about being blind is you really get a different vantage point when you observe the way sighted people brand choices," then tells her nail polish story. Turns out that sighted people aren't terribly practiced at descriptions. Iyengar is comfortable describing herself. Can y'all exist?

You can read the transcript of her talk here and picket the video beneath. I thank reader Cate Huston for pointing me to this speech communication. Watch and learn from it.