How to choose wisely when you have too many options – or how to best use TripAdvisor, Amazon, and Yelp?

Tom Vanderbilt’s column in Nautilus is preciously rich in some of the best notions in the psychology of choice. We have looked into them before, when it came to dating – are all good-looking people jerks?. This is a focus on choosing a place to stay, a thing to eat, or indeed anything that has reviews.

So pretty much everything nowadays.

In a nutshell:

1. look at the average score and the number of reviews, but ignore individual ones,
2. if you must read individual reviews, read the 3 or 4 star-reviews, they are most likely to be truthful,
3. order the least appetising sounding thing on the menu at a restaurant – there must be a reason for which it’s there
4. don’t second guess once you’ve made a choice – stick to it
5. in fact, once you’ve chosen, continue to look at this option, you will like it more

For more examples and the science behind these tips, read through Tom’s main article on the always brilliant Nautilus.