If you've ever dashed into the grocery store to pick up a tube of toothpaste, you've likely been stopped in your tracks by the glut of options available. There are at least more than a dozen brands, each one presenting several different specialties of cleaning ability: anti-cavity, whitening, better breath and healthier gums. Add to that the different costs, flavors and colors, and before you know it, an employee is asking you to make your way to the registers so the store can close.
如果你冲进杂货店去买一支牙膏，过多的选择很可能会让你停下来。至少有超过十二种品牌，每一种上都标注着几种清洁能力的不同特性：抗龋齿、美白、口气清新和健康牙龈。再加上不同的价格、味道和颜色，不知不觉中，商店里的雇员就催你去付款了，因为商品要关门了。
But it's not just the number of options that gives us pause -- it's the amount of information each option has that trips us up, too. Social scientist Barry Schwartz interprets research on the subject to mean, in part, that an abundance of choices and information may make us falsely believe that the stakes are higher than they really are regarding the outcome of our decision.
但是，我们停下来并不仅仅是因为选择的数量太多——每种选择所带给我们的信息也占部分原因。社会科学家巴里-施瓦茨对相关的研究进行了解释，在某种程度上，大量的选择和信息使我们错误地高估了选错的风险。
He suggests that because we are presented with so much information, the overload of options and data leads us to falsely believe that, even a fairly mundane task like shopping for toothpaste, has great significance than it really does.
他指出，由于我们面临着如此之多的信息，选择和数据的过量让我们错误地高估了任务的重要性，即便是像买牙膏这样相当常见的任务。
Schwartz also points out that our increased ability to access information through the Internet can actually make matters worse. Inundated with results from a simple Web search, we must now choose which site among the hundreds of thousands to begin our evaluation.
施瓦茨同时指出，我们访问互联网信息的能力日益增强，这会让事情变得更糟。一次简单的网页搜索就会出来大量的结果将我们淹没，我们必须对几十万的网站进行评估，从中进行选择。
Our goal is to make the "perfect" choice. When we make decisions, we're motivated not only by the opportunity for gain, but also by the fear of loss. The decision-making process isn't a purely analytical one -- researchers using functional magnetic resonance imaging on subjects who were faced with decisions discovered that the process of making a choice lights up portions of our brains that deal with regret and emotional memories: the medial orbitofrontal region, the anterior cingulate cortex and the hippocampus.
我们的目标是做出“完美”的选择。当我们在做决定时，我们不仅仅是希望有所得，我们也害怕有所失。决策的过程不是单纯的分析过程——研究人员使用功能性磁共振成像技术对面临决策的受试者进行了研究，他们发现做决策的过程点亮了大脑中处理遗憾和情感记忆的部分：内侧眶额区、前扣带回皮质和海马区。
But what we may regret most, according to Schwartz, is the extra time spent analyzing and comparing each and every bit of information, which can lead to frustration and fatigue, ultimately diminishing our decision-making ability.
据施瓦茨所说，我们最后悔的，是花费在分析和比较信息上的那些时间，它会让我们沮丧和疲劳，最终削弱我们制定决策的能力。
One good approach is to place a value on the time it takes to make your decision, compared to the value of the decision itself. In the case of toothpaste, you probably serve your interests sufficiently by quickly choosing any toothpaste that keeps white teeth securely rooted in your minty mouth.
其中的一种好的方法是给做选择所花的时间定一个值，并与做选择本身的价值进行比较。在牙膏的这个例子中，你很有可能会快速地随便选择一管牙膏，其实这样就能够满足你的要求了，因为任何一种牙膏都能让你的牙齿洁白并让你的口气保持清新。