Hick's Law

William Hick's experimental finding that the time required to make a decision INCREASES LOGARITHMICALLY with the number of choices available. Two options take slightly longer than one; four options take slightly longer than two—but the increase is logarithmic, not linear. Practical implication: reducing choices from 10 to 5 saves more decision time than reducing from 5 to 2. In design: every additional option increases cognitive load and decision time. In strategy: offering too many options produces CHOICE PARALYSIS—the inability to decide at all. Sheena Iyengar's jam study: a display of 24 jams attracted more attention but produced FEWER purchases than a display of 6.

When to use it

When choice overload is producing paralysis rather than satisfaction; when decision speed needs to increase through option reduction; when interface or product design needs to reduce cognitive load; when the logarithmic relationship between options and decision time would inform design.

How it can help

Reduce choices to reduce decision friction. For products: limit options to the 3-5 most meaningful. For pricing: offer 3 tiers rather than 8. For interfaces: reduce menu items, visible actions, and required decisions. For personal decision-making: pre-commit to decision criteria BEFORE seeing options to reduce the effective choice set. For organizations: reduce the number of decisions required at each level by establishing defaults and policies. The practice: whenever decision speed or completion rate is low, check whether too many options are causing paralysis.