Person
Sheena Iyengar
S.T. Lee Professor of Business, Columbia Business School
Behind the famous 1995/2000 jam-tasting choice-overload study cited in Episode 8 (see Iyengar Jam Choice Study), though not credited by name there since Episode 8 predates her first appearance as a guest.
Guest in Episode 146. S.T. Lee Professor of Business at Columbia Business School. Author of The Art of Choosing (Goldman Sachs' 2010 Business Book of the Year) and, at the time of this episode, the newly-published Think Bigger. Argues that ideas form through the combination of existing elements rather than arriving as unprompted inspiration, and that brainstorming — the conventional group technique most organizations default to for generating ideas — is measurably ineffective, producing both fewer and lower-quality ideas than independent thought followed by structured group discussion (see Brainstorming Ineffectiveness).
Returns in Episode 153 to tell the full story behind the jam study, as promised: it began as a failed attempt, during her PhD, to find a cultural difference in children's preference for choice (see Iyengar Bing Nursery Lego Choice Study), and led to Procter & Gamble cutting Head & Shoulders from 26 to 15 variants, raising sales 10% (see Head and Shoulders Variant-Reduction Case). Also covers George Miller's "seven plus or minus two" as a rough ceiling on manageable choice, and her own 20-year review of the choice-overload literature, concluding more choice reliably makes people less likely to choose at all, more likely to choose suboptimally, and less satisfied with what they do choose.
Discussed in
- Episode 8 — 8- The power of scarcity and why less is more (jam study, uncredited)
- Episode 146 — 146-do-brainstorms-actually-work
- Episode 153 — 153-why-too-much-choice-is-a-bad-thing
- Episode 162 — 162-the-best-of-nudge-in-2023 (year-end recap, jam study)
- Episode 180 — 180-10-pricing-tips-from-10-pricing-experts (re-cited, jam study)