For tomorrow’s Thanksgiving dinner, I’m preparing three kinds of potatoes:  mashed, sweet, and roasted.  It’s my way of making everyone happy.  The mashed are for a first-time guest who’d feel homesick without them; the sweets (prepared with chipotles, not the conventional marshmallow topping) are a vehicle for me to try something different; and the roasted are for my husband, who won’t eat the other kinds.  This will create a decision overload for everyone else.  Buffets are like that, especially if you want to avoid piling your plate too high and regretting the food coma afterwards.

Research tells us the more options available to us, the harder it is to choose, even with trivial selections like shampoo (or Thanksgiving side dishes).   When consumers were presented with an array of gourmet jams, they were less likely to purchase a jar if they had 28 varieties to choose from than if they had only six.  We enjoy having an extensive range of options at our disposal.  But when we have too many choices, we’re likely to feel less satisfied with our decision afterwards.

Three types of potatoes, though, are not too many.  Especially since this year I’m only making two kinds of pies.