Variety, vice, and virtue: How assortment size influences option choice

Assortment size has been shown to influence whether consumers make a choice, but could it also influence what they choose? Five studies demonstrate that be-cause choosing from larger assortments is often more difficult, it leads people to select options that are easier to justify. Virtues and utilitarian necessities are gen-erally easier to justify than indulgences; consequently, choosing from larger as-sortments often shifts choice from vices to virtues and from hedonic to utilitarian options. These effects reverse, however, when situational factors provide acces-sible reasons to indulge, underscoring the role of justification. Implications for choice difficulty and justification processes are discussed. When going out to eat, consumers often get mired inone of life’s eternal struggles—the choice between vice and virtue. Restaurant menus frequently include deli-cious but unhealthy options (e.g., pizza) as well as whole-some but less tasty alternatives (e.g., salads). Though such decisions can be resolved in different ways, one interesting question is whether menu size could influence what peopl