Sheena Iyengar
Sheena Iyengar (born November 29, 1969) is a distinguished American academic and authority on decision-making and choice. This article presents her biography, research, intellectual contributions, and memorable quotes.
Introduction
Sheena S. Iyengar is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading scholars on the psychology of choice. She holds the S.T. Lee Professorship of Business at Columbia Business School and directs work at the intersection of behavioral science, innovation, and organizational decision-making.
Her research asks fundamental questions: Why do we value choice? How many options are too many? How do cultural, cognitive, and contextual factors shape our decisions? In recent years, she has extended her inquiry into how to generate ideas and innovation—ushering her work beyond decision theory into creative thinking and business strategy.
Early Life and Education
Though now associated with the U.S., Sheena Iyengar was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on November 29, 1969. Her parents had emigrated from Delhi, India.
A striking and formative aspect of her biography is her visual impairment. Diagnosed early with a rare form of retinitis pigmentosa, she gradually lost her vision. By age nine, she could no longer read; by sixteen, she was fully blind (though still able to perceive light).
Her father passed away when she was thirteen, which deepened the challenges she faced. Her mother instilled in her the value of independence and turned her energies toward education and self-reliance.
Despite (or in part because of) these difficulties, Iyengar pursued rigorous academic training:
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In 1992, she graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania, earning a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School and a B.A. in Psychology from the Arts & Sciences side.
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She then entered Stanford University, earning a Ph.D. in Social Psychology in 1997.
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Her doctoral dissertation, titled “Choice and its Discontents,” won the Best Dissertation Award (1998) from the Society for Experimental Social Psychology.
Academic Career & Major Contributions
Early Academic Appointments
After completing her Ph.D., Iyengar began her academic career as an assistant professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management (1997–1998). She was the first South Asian woman on the Sloan faculty.
In 1998, she joined the Columbia Business School faculty. Over time she advanced to full professor and now occupies the S.T. Lee Professorship of Business, chairs the Management Division, and serves as Academic Director of Columbia’s Innovation Hub.
Research Focus: The Psychology of Choice
Iyengar’s central research domain is choice—how individuals make decisions, how many options they can handle, how context and culture intervene, and how to design choice architectures better.
One of her most famous experiments is the “Jam Study”: offering shoppers either 6 flavors or 24 flavors of jam, she found that while more jam options attracted more interest, significantly fewer people actually made a purchase when too many options were presented. This phenomenon is often cited as a canonical example of choice overload.
Her findings have influenced behavioral economics, marketing, policy design, and management thinking about how to structure choice environments—particularly in consumer, digital, and organizational contexts.
Published Works & Thought Leadership
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The Art of Choosing (2010) is her best-known book, exploring choice in depth—how we choose, what it means, and how to do it better.
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In 2023 she published Think Bigger: How to Innovate, marking a purposeful shift into the domain of creativity and idea generation.
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Her Think Bigger method emphasizes how ideas form internally and offers a six-step framework for innovation, distinct from design thinking approaches.
Beyond books, she has published many articles in psychology, management, marketing, and consumer behavior journals. Her work often bridges disciplines—drawing insights from neuroscience, behavioral science, economics, and social psychology.
Her recorded TED talks (e.g. “The Art of Choosing”, “How to Make Choosing Easier”) have reached millions of viewers.
Recognition, Awards & Influence
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In 2002, she received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.
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Her work has been recognized by Thinkers50, and in 2023 she received the Innovation Award from Thinkers50.
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She was named one of the “World’s Best B-School Professors” by Poets & Quants.
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At Columbia, she has won teaching awards, including the Dean’s Award for Outstanding Core Teaching.
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Her ideas are frequently cited in media outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and others.
Her influence extends well beyond academia: she advises companies, consults on design and decision architectures, and appears in public debates about choice in business, technology, and society.
Personality, Challenges & Motivations
Iyengar’s life story is marked by resilience. Losing her eyesight at a young age forced her to navigate the world differently—and arguably sharpened her sensitivity to how constraints, context, and framing influence human choice. She has spoken publicly about how her own limitations motivated her to think deliberately about what choices are possible and meaningful.
She is known for intellectual rigor, curiosity, and the ability to communicate complex ideas in accessible and practical ways—qualities that make her work relevant to students, executives, and general audiences alike.
In her personal life, Iyengar was married to Garud Iyengar (a fellow Columbia academic). They have a son, Ishaan, and she currently lives in New York City.
Famous Quotes & Insights
Here are several notable quotes and ideas attributed to Sheena Iyengar that illustrate her thinking:
“Choice allows us to be architects of our future.”
— from The Art of Choosing (Afterword)
“I understood that not all the choices in the world would be available to me, so I had to figure out what choices there were, what choices I could create, and what would be the domain of which I would try to add value.”
— Iyengar, reflecting on her life in her speaker bio
“Too many choices reduce customer purchasing and corporate growth.”
— Summarizing the lesson from her Jam Study, widely cited in her public talks and summaries
“How can I get my best ideas?”
— A framing question central to her Think Bigger book and method.
These statements reflect her core emphasis: that choice is powerful, but also fraught; and that design, constraints, and cognitive architecture matter deeply to human experience.
Lessons & Legacy
From Sheena Iyengar’s life and work, we can draw several enduring lessons:
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Constraint can inspire creativity. Her own visual impairment shaped her sensitivity to boundaries and reframed how she understood choice.
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More is not always better. Her empirical work shows that beyond a point, additional options can paralyze rather than liberate.
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Context, framing, and design matter. The architecture of choice—how options are presented—can influence outcomes as much as the options themselves.
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Bridging theory and practice. Sheena shows how deep behavioral science can inform innovation, strategy, product design, and leadership.
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Resilience + clarity of purpose. Her life story illustrates the power of forging your path even under limitations.
Iyengar’s influence is likely to deepen as organizations, policymakers, and technologists confront choice overload, algorithmic recommendation systems, and the design of human–machine interaction. Her more recent shift toward innovation thinking (via Think Bigger) suggests her work will continue to evolve and shape discourse across domains.
Conclusion
Sheena Iyengar is a remarkable thinker whose scholarship on choice has reshaped how we understand decision-making in psychology, business, and everyday life. From a life of personal challenge, she has built a powerful intellectual legacy—teaching us not just to choose, but to design choice, to innovate, and to rethink how ideas emerge.