The Crayola Conspiracy: Crayon colors, unhappiness, doubling every 28 years

It began with eight colors. When we were children, the red and blue and black evolved slowly into magenta and cobalt and midnight grey. The box got bigger. Then a crayon sharpener was added to the deluxe boxes. Yes, the number of colors in a Crayola crayon box is a benchmark for measuring the finest traditions of capitalism: more is better.

Or is it? A Psychology Today report indicates that having too many choices inhibits and exhausts the decision-making parts of our brains. In some instances, it's even proven to downright dumb us down a bit. The results, achieved through a series of bizarre tests, indicate that having more choices slows down making the most basic decisions. This may sound obvious--more choices requires more time to make a decision--but the results are quite paralyzing.

Barry Schwartz, author of the book The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less, argues that too many choices may be a hallmark of capitalism, but it's not a hallmark of either happiness or productivity. Faced with choice overload, people typically respond in one of three ways, Schwartz says. We freeze and make no choice. We make the wrong choice. Or we make the right choice but question our decision. "Even though you have no reason to be displeased, you're just sure you could have done better," Schwartz told USA Today.

While this may not affect how many colors crayola puts out, it might explain why in the midst of two wars, multiple year-long deployments, and increased casualties, job satisfaction in the military remained at 86% from 2002-2006, according to the Military Times. Civilian workers showed the same level of satisfaction, though they weren't being shot at and were experiencing the most successful economic times in modern history. The difference may be that military personnel are provided only a set number of choices in their daily routine. Not so with the civilian sector where job mobility, commuting options, and geographic selection are up to the worker. Since the recession, civilian job satisfaction has slumped to 45% while job satisfaction in the armed forces has remained relatively steady.

This might also explain why when it comes to measuring gross national happiness, countries with the most wealth (and, by extension, the most choices) tend to flop: the tiny island nation of Vanuatu ranked number one in a recent survey, America ranked in the bottom 10.

The point of all this? It turns out less really is more when it comes to choice. Having a few varied choices is key, but selecting between midnight grey and black can be downright miserable. Best stick to the box of eight.