COMPASS to the Psychology of Voting #8 - Are you completely clueless? That’s why we should vote on Sundays!

12 parties. Slogans. Messages. Choices. Far too many choices. When our brain is faced with too many choices, it becomes overwhelmed and can, in some cases, freeze up. Perhaps that is why more and more voters are casting blank ballots.

In this episode of "Compass to the Psychology of Voting," hosts Sigge Winther and Lars Hvidberg, along with behavioral psychologist Annemette Staal, explore how our brains become overwhelmed by too many decisions. We then examine whether we need to adapt our society, our democracy—indeed, our election day itself—to account for the fact that our brains can’t keep up.

Research:

Chernev, A., Böckenholt, U., & Goodman, J. (2015). Choice overload: A conceptual review and meta-analysis. Journal of Consumer Psychology

 Polman, E., & Vohs, K. D. (2016). Decision Fatigue, Choosing for Others, and Self-Construal.Social Psychological and Personality Science

Iyengar, S. S., & Lepper, M. R. (2000). When choice is demotivating: Can one desire too much of a good thing?

Credits:

Cast: Annemette Staal, Sigge Winther, and Lars Hvidberg

Editors: Linn Lüders, Silas Moody, Lars Hvidberg, Ida Torpe Thorhauge, Bjørk Hulten, Noa Jenkins, and Anton Jensen

Sound Design: Peter Sejersbøl

Produced by the INVI Think Tank – Institute for wicked , with support from the Carlsberg Foundation.