From Emil Kucera
Helen Knight writes that “various studies have shown that people with restricted choice – or none at all – often feel happier with a given outcome than those with more freedom” (14 April, p 36).
It seems that authors knew it long ago. In Kenneth Roberts’s book Northwest Passage, published in 1937, we find this discussion of choice: “‘Jesse,’ I said, ‘don’t you get sick of sausage and corn meal?’ ‘No,’ Jesse said. ‘No. If there ain’t nothing to eat but sausage and corn meal, you like it. If you had to choose between sausage and corn meal and sausage and beans, you’d hate both of em.'”
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
