- [sniffing]

Ah, nothing like bacon and eggs in the morning.

It's a hearty meal that holds you together for the whole day.

It's a combination so obvious that it's been around

for as long as both foods existed.

Humans naturally loved these foods together,

so they became a staple of breakfast.

Or did they?

What if I were to tell you that the traditional combination

of bacon and eggs isn't part of our natural history,

but is instead a corporate conspiracy

orchestrated by society's true puppet masters?

It isn't a breakfast for champions.

It's a breakfast for sheeple.

[electronic music]

♪ ♪

We think that a lot of commonplace things

are the way they are because of collective free choice,

when in fact, sometimes,

one or two people alone

made a decision and created something

that is now taken for granted as part of society--

just part of life.

Here's the real story behind bacon and eggs.

It all begins with Sigmund Freud.

Or rather, his nephew, Edward Bernays.

Bernays is credited as the "Father of Public Relations,"

the product of a time when the world

had become just small enough

that you could manipulate a lot of people at once

because of the way that advertising, news,

and radio could reach a large number of people quickly.

Bernays took advantage of mass media

not with the intention to inform,

but with the intention to control.

In the 1920s, Ed Bernays asked a doctor

who worked at his agency whether a breakfast should be

heavy or light, and the doctor pretty much said,

"I guess heavy would be better."

Bernays then had that doctor

get 4,500 other doctors to confirm that.

- All of them concurred that a heavy breakfast

was better for the health of the American people.

- Then, Bernays lobbied newspapers

to publish that all these doctors were saying

you should eat a big ol' breakfast.

But he wasn't doing this to improve public health.

He was doing this because Beech-Nut Packing Company,

a major supplier of bacon,

was paying him to do it.

- The sale of bacon went up,

and I still have a letter

from Bartlett Arkell,

president of Beech-Nut Packing Company,

telling me so.

- So we collectively, as a country,

agreed that bacon was our breakfast meat of choice.

But we didn't actually make that choice at all.

And that's just breakfast.

Our lives are full of decisions that we think

we make of our own free will.

But do we?

[dramatic music]

These days, our markets are inundated

with products and choices.

But is having many choices good or bad?

[dreamy electronic music]

♪ ♪

Most people say they like a lot of choices.

But do they really?

We took our cameras and a few pounds of jelly beans

to Venice Beach to find out.

First, we invited people to pick

one of two flavor choices.

- Yeah, good.

- Yeah, I'm happy with it. Yeah.

Thank you.

It was an easy choice to make.

I chose it 'cause I wanted something fresh in my mouth.

- I like it--I like lemon and citrus and everything like that.

Good taste. I'm happy with my choice.

- Most subjects were content with their selection

when it was a choice between two options.

But what happens when we offer more choices?

Will the subjects be just as happy with their decision?

- I see.

Not licorice...

Okay. Can I do more than one? Or just one?

- Oh, my goodness.

Mmm.

Mm-hmm.

Well, I'm kind of regretting not trying a fruit one.

Because with jelly beans, it's more--

fruit is more natural to me.

Like, I probably should have gone

for my first choice, raspberry.

Maybe I would have been happy.

- There's, um--I mean, there's a lot to choose from.

I'm gonna try one?

- Okay. Marshmallow.

- I don't know. Uh...

You're always questioning, like,

"Did I make the right choice," right?

Like, initially, I wanted to try pineapple,

but then I thought marshmallow,

I don't want to miss out on marshmallow, or peach,

or blueberry even.

If I could choose again, I would probably pick peach.

- All right.

Pineapple.

Very good. It's my favorite fruit.

Mmm, I could have had blueberry,

which is also one of my favorites.

- Uh, kind of an impulse decision.

I kind of wish I looked at the whole

thing a little bit more. - Yeah.

- Maybe I would have picked a better flavor.

- So maybe sometimes we're actually

happier with fewer choices?

In fact, researchers have been

exploring this idea for years.

According to the famous jam experiment,

a study by Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper published in 2000,

too many similar choices may even stop us

from making any choice at all.

The study compared two store displays:

one with 6 varieties of jam and one with 24.

Although fewer consumers stopped to sample jam

at the display with limited choices,

a full 30% of them made a purchase.

By contrast, only 3% of the consumers

at the more extensive display

actually bought a jar of jam.

This is called "Choice paralysis."

But life is all about choices.

We like having choices.

Don't we?

Or are we happier

when we have no choice at all?

[static]

Hello, and welcome to "Tea Time Word Scrambles,"

the game show where the competition is steep

and trouble is always brewing?

Some of our contestants will be given a choice

of caffeinated black tea or soothing herbal tea.

And the others will be given no choice at all.

Once the tea takes effect,

they'll be asked to unscramble some words.

Which contestants will be happier with their performance?

Those who have their choice of tea, or those who don't?

Let's find out. It's "Tea Time."

My name is Michael Stevens, your host today.

Let's meet our contestant, Gisele.

- Yay! - Nice to meet you, Gisele.

- Nice to meet you too.

- Tell me a little bit about yourself.

- I'm from New York, and I've lived in LA for al--

[bell dinging] - Ooh!

Gisele, you know what that sound means.

- What? - That means it's Tea Time.

- Yay! - Go ahead and take a seat

in the Tea Seat. - Okay.

I like tea.

- Well, you're in for a treat, Gisele.

- Okay. - Because today you are going

to be unscrambling words. - Uh-oh.

- A task that requires energy-- - Yeah.

- Because there's a time limit, but it also requires focus.

- Mm-hmm. Okay. - Steady, calm nerves.

- Got it. - And patience.

- Yeah. - So,

today the choice is yours.

You can either have

some herbal tea that will keep you calm and focused...

- Okay. - Or you can have

some black tea that's caffeinated

and will give you some energy.

- Hmm.

I'm gonna go with black. - Black tea?

- Yeah. - All right.

Go ahead and pour some black tea--

you know what? I'll have some too.

Mmm, wonderful.

Now, what made you pick black tea?

- Um, I want to be energized.

- Okay. - Yeah.

- Here's to you. - Cheers.

- Cheers.

Mmm. [bell dinging]

Whoa, you know what that sound means.

It's word scrambling time. - Okay.

- Remember, this subject had a free choice

of which tea to drink.

Will freedom of choice bring her

happiness and satisfaction?

Gisele, these are your words.

- Oh, my God. When do I start?

- Well, we're gonna put three minutes on the clock.

- Okay. - Go ahead.

You can use these steps

to access the letters.

The goal here is to solve

as many as possible within the three minutes.

- Got it. - And...go!

- [sighs]

[playful music]

- Starting with word number five.

♪ ♪

Gisele has kitten.

That looks like it could be the right answer.

♪ ♪

- Oh, yeah. - Vacuum.

- Uh...

Um... - Hearth.

Looking good.

- Oh, I don't know what this is.

Um...

[bell dinging] - Oh!

And time is up, Gisele. Come on down.

And let's take a look at how you did.

- Oh. Oh, no. [laughs]

- For number one, you got vacuum,

which is correct, very good job. - Yay!

- Very good job. For number two, hearth.

Correct, very good job. - Yay!

- Now, number three, you have "Taffrid."

- [blows raspberry] - It's a very good word,

but it's not one.

The actual answer is adrift.

- Oh, I was so stuck on that.

- Number five, you have kitten.

That was the first one you solved, and kitten is correct.

- Yay! - Very good job.

Now, down here at the bottom,

uh, the answer is lounge.

You have "Lougne."

- Oh! I spelled it wrong! [buzzer blares]

- No, we can't accept "Lougne," unfortunately.

Well, Gisele, you received

one, two, three points. [bell ringing]

So, how do you feel you did?

- I should've probably had the other tea

because then it would have calmed my nerves.

I should have chose the other tea.

- This subject clearly regrets her choice.

The fact that she chose the tea herself

gives her the opportunity to second-guess her decision.

What about the other subjects

who were given freedom of choice?

"Noric," we were looking for ironic.

- Isn't that ironic? - No, it is not.

What we were looking for was hearth.

- Hearth? - Adrift.

Shroud. - Are these words--

actual, real words? - Yeah, they are.

Tell me, Heather, how do you feel you did today?

- Uh, not as well as I had hoped.

- If you could do it again would you choose a different tea?

- Yes. You can only get better.

You can't get worse than one.

- I think, probably, if I had chosen the other tea,

I would have gotten everything correct.

- None of these contestants

were happy with the choices they made.

But what happens when

the freedom to choose is taken away?

Trin, tell us which tea has been

randomly assigned to Athena today?

- Athena has been assigned black tea.