What did a 2017 study by the Cato Institute find?

A 2017 study by the Cato Institute found that when people have more choices, they sometimes end up being less happy with their decisions.

Imagine you're at a candy store. There are only two types of candy: chocolate and gummy bears. You pick one, and you’re happy. Now imagine there are 20 kinds of candy, chocolate, gummy bears, lollipops, sour candies, and more. You spend forever trying to decide which one to get. When you finally choose, you might wonder, “What if I picked the better one?” That’s what happened in this study.

The Cato Institute is like a group of smart detectives who look at how people make decisions. In 2017, they looked at people who had different numbers of choices, some had lots, some had few. They wanted to know if having more options made people happier or sadder.

People with fewer choices were usually happier with their picks. But people with too many choices often felt like they missed out on something better. It’s like being in a toy store with 100 toys, you might not be sure if the one you picked was the best one!