Maximize when valuable: The domain specificity of maximizing decision-making style

Abstract

The maximizing decision-making style describes the style of one who pursues maximum utility in decision-making, in contrast to the satisficing style, which describes the style of one who is satisfied with good enough options. The current research concentrates on the within-person variation in the maximizing decision-making style and provides an explanation through three studies. Study 1 (N = 530) developed a domain-specific maximizing scale and found that individuals had different maximizing tendencies across different domains. Studies 2 (N = 162) and 3 (N = 106) further explored this mechanism from the perspective of subjective task value through questionnaires and experiments. It was found that the within-person variation of maximization in different domains is driven by the difference in the individuals’ subjective task value in the corresponding domains. People tend to maximize more in the domains they value more. Our research contributes to a comprehensive understanding of maximization and provides a new perspective for the study of the maximizing decision-making style.

Maximizing tendency predicts university adjustment and academic performance

“…The maximizing tendency in college students has brought them better academic performance, and led to a higher level of eudaimonic well-being. This result could help researchers to understand and explore maximizing strategies from the perspective of cognitive evaluation ( Zhu et al, 2022 ).…”

“…Under these circumstances, college students may realize that they must apply the required traits to acquire the necessary resources to accomplish campus goals. Compared with individuals with lower maximizing tendencies, individuals with higher maximizing tendencies have a stronger desire and a more persistent pursuit to achieve a good goal and success ( Zhu et al, 2022 ). Therefore, when the campus environment brings them such a pursuit in an atmosphere of excellence and challenge, college students who want to be the best, will ensure that they can stand out from their peers or achieve the best by actively investing in efforts and setting higher standards for themselves.…”

Adaptive aspects of maximizing in times of COVID-19: coping efforts linking maximization to well-being

“…Chua et al (2015) found that adolescents who express high levels of future orientation are more inclined than others to employ adaptive coping strategies while avoiding maladaptive ones as they work towards achieving positive future outcomes. Furthermore, maximizers tend to possess stronger aspirations and a more unwavering dedication to achieving favorable goals and success than those with lower maximizing tendencies (Peng et al, 2018;Zhu et al, 2022). Therefore, despite lots of demands such as planning and preparation (Iyengar et al, 2006;Polman, 2010), maximizers work harder (e.g., Schwartz et al, 2002), investing more time (Nenkov et al, 2008) and resources (Misuraca et al, 2016) while resisting temptations (Besharat et al, 2014) and risky behaviors (Lai, 2010) that may reduce the likelihood of goal achievement.…”

“…We expected that maximizers would be more likely to practice these coping strategies to deal with physical and psychological distress during the pandemic. In particular, considering their concerns about the long-term consequences of their current actions (Misuraca et al, 2016;Zhu et al, 2017) and higher internal motivation to attain favorable outcomes (Peng et al, 2018;Zhu et al, 2022), they would be more willing to stick to public health rules and recommendations such as mask-wearing, hand hygiene, and social distancing and to attempt various activities in times of long-lasting pandemic crisis.…”

Maximization delays decision-making in acute care nursing

“…Historically, it has been generally assumed that maximization has a domain general effect on decision making, which is supported by findings of similar execution across various domains 29 . Some authors, however, suggest a situational approach, with different context-dependent manifestations of maximization 30 , or different levels of maximization depending on the relative value that each domain has for the person making the choice 31 . In order to check if the effect of maximization in our study is context-dependent, we decided to compare our participants’ responses to decision-making situations both related and unrelated to their usual work context as acute care nurses.…”