Definition

The more choices you have, the longer it takes to decide.

Hick’s Law explains that decision time increases with the number and complexity of options. Choosing between two items? Easy. But when faced with twenty, your brain stalls—overthinking, second-guessing, and often avoiding the choice altogether.

This principle shapes everything from user experience design to everyday moments like picking a restaurant or a Netflix show. Simpler menus, smoother minds.

Why Use It

Understanding Hick’s Law transforms our approach to design and decision-making. This framework helps explain why more options don’t always lead to better outcomes, providing a scientific basis for simplification in everything from user interfaces to emergency protocols.

When to Use It

Spot Hick’s Law at work whenever response time directly impacts outcomes.

Look for it in high-traffic websites where checkout flows have been reduced from six steps to three, dramatically increasing conversion rates.

Recognize it in emergency response systems where color-coding and prioritized layouts help first responders make critical decisions in seconds rather than minutes.

Identify it in successful mobile apps that limit main navigation options to five or fewer choices instead of overwhelming users with every possible function.

Notice it in restaurant menus that boost profits by offering carefully curated selections rather than exhaustive options that paralyze diners with choice.

Apply Hick’s Law wherever decision fatigue threatens performance, satisfaction, or safety.

How to Use It

Imagine being an air traffic controller during peak hours: dozens of planes approaching, each requiring split-second decisions that could save or cost hundreds of lives. Their control panels exemplify Hick’s Law in action—critical functions prominently positioned, secondary options logically grouped, and rarely used controls accessible but tucked away.

The film Die Hard 2 perfectly illustrates this concept. When terrorists seize Dulles Airport’s communication systems, air traffic controllers must make rapid decisions with limited options to prevent disaster. Similarly, John McClane succeeds because he focuses on the critical few choices rather than all possible solutions, creating clear decision paths under extreme pressure.

To implement Hick’s Law effectively:

• Identify essential choices
• Eliminate unnecessary options
• Group related choices logically
• Create clear hierarchies
• Design progressive disclosure systems
• Build in quick-access defaults

Whether crafting a user interface that converts browsers to buyers, developing emergency protocols that save lives, or simply designing a restaurant menu that delights rather than overwhelms, Hick’s Law offers the psychological foundation for turning the paralysis of choice into the power of decision—transforming the overwhelming into the obvious, one carefully curated option at a time.

Next Steps

Begin by identifying where choice overload creates friction in your systems.

Then thoughtfully reduce options while preserving essential functionality, remembering that Hick’s Law isn’t about eliminating choice but optimizing it. As you test and refine, you’ll discover that logarithmically efficient decision paths save time and fundamentally enhance decision quality.

Where it Came From

William Edmund Hick and Ray Hyman developed this principle in 1952 through their research on the relationship between the number of stimuli present and an individual’s reaction time to any given stimulus. Their work demonstrated that decision time increases logarithmically (not linearly) with the number of choices, revolutionizing our understanding of human-computer interaction and decision theory.