Are You a Maximizer or a Satisficer?
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What does motivation mean to you? Motivation is the psychological process that produces the drive for us to pursue certain outcomes or personal goals. It is not a fixed state, rather a dynamic and fluctuating one that is influenced by several factors, such as an individual’s personality, environment, and emotions. According to self-determination theory, competence and feeling competency about oneself is an important psychological need that contributes towards optimal functioning and happiness. Competence can be defined as “the exercise, expansion, and expression of one’s capacities and talents” (Yu et al., 2021). There is a difference between doing things well, an accepted almost universal standard of “good enough”, versus doing things “better”, that is to stretch one’s abilities and inflate one’s competence through interacting with the environment. The reward for competence-motivated behavior is the feeling of competency from effective functioning and the motivation to continue this behavior is a result of continual stretching of one’s capabilities (Yu et al., 2021). Those who are driven to do things “better” fall into a group of people called “Maximizers”. Those who chose to do “good enough” fall into the “Satisficers” group. The term satisficer takes a combination of the two words “suffice” and “satisfy” to describe an individual who is content to settle for the good enough option, but not necessarily the very best outcome in all respects. Satisficers are less likely to experience regret, even if a better option presents itself after a decision has been made. Maximizers, on the other hand, are continually striving to make the best decision that produces maximum benefit and can often find themselves regretting their own decisions. They strive to get the most from the choices they make and are willing to go through an exhaustive decision-making process to get it right. However, maximizers do incur heavy psychological costs as well such as regret, self-blame, reduced commitment to any choice they make, and less well-being overall (Krakovsky, 2011). Maximizers approach life in a unique manner as compared to satisficers and these differences have impact in various avenues in life, such as work, relationships, academics, and mental/physical health.
- Work
There are many different ways an individual approaches work and how they interact with the work environment and those within it. One may tend to focus their attention inwardly, preferring to stick to one’s self and tasks, while some prefer working with and helping others. Prosocial behavior is different between maximizers and satisficers, with maximizers exhibiting more prosocial behavior than satisficers. Prosocial behavior is defined as the desire to benefit others or expend effort out of concern for others. Maximizers fall into the category of prosocial individuals. Not to be confused with those with a prosocial personality, which is a set of cognitive, developmental, and habitual structures that underlie a person’s prosociality. Prosocial motivation is related to the outcomes of interest in the work setting. Prosocial individuals are more likely to experience a greater sense of work meaningfulness, which has a positive effect on well-being. Prosocial employees focus their attention outwardly rather than inwardly and tend to look out for cues that suggest a need for prosocial actions. This increases the chances that they will recognize opportunities for benefiting other people and the organization (Liao et al., 2022).
However, prosocial behavior from a maximizer is not necessarily altruistic or mutually exclusive. An individual may engage in obligatory prosocial behavior in order to avoid a negative outcome, rather than discretionary prosocial behavior. Maximizers engage in discretionary prosocial motivation because they are less likely to sacrifice their career goals and advancements by being agreeable to keep the peace. Prosocial behavior for maximizers is a reinforcing cycle, as it increases well-being while benefiting others and the work environment around them (Liao et al., 2022).
- Relationships
When people think of maximizers and satisficers, the first thing that comes to mind is the difference between the two when it comes to work and consumers. People do not often think about relationships/romantic relationships. We already know that maximizers have the desire to optimize their outcomes, even if it is nearly impossible to do so. Maximizers also often feel regret after making a decision as if they could have done more to do better or have made a better decision and have a better outcome, while satisficers look for options and make decisions that are seen as ‘just acceptable’. This also applies to their relationships; maximizers are often not as satisfied with their partner due to the thought of a better partner coming along. Maximizers face three factors when looking for a romantic partner: alternative search, high standards, and decision difficulty (Mikkelson et al., 2016). The maximizer is always seeking a better relationship, has high expectations for the relationship, and difficulty in choosing a partner respectively. Maximizers often find uncertainty about themselves, their partner, and their relationship, which makes it hard for a healthy relationship with so much doubt (Mikkelson et al., 2016).
- School
School is a major part of people’s lives. Attending school requires a lot of time in class and working on assignments outside of the classroom. The workload given to students can be very challenging and time-consuming. How is a maximizer and a satisficer different in school? Satisficers have been found to do just enough work to get by and pass the class, while Maximizers put in a large amount of time and effort to receive the best grade possible. This effort is reflected in how well a student studies for exams, their confidence in their exam-taking skills and in their knowledge about the topics presented in the exam, and their enjoyment of studying (Stohs, 2016). There are outside factors that may prevent a student from being a maximizer. These factors include: having jobs, family responsibilities, being a full or part-time student, their age, and whether they attend class or not. Maximizers have been shown to be more positive, spend more time studying, and showing up to class which, overall, helps them receive higher grades (Stohs, 2016).
- Health/Mental Health
From putting in the work at the office to working out at the gym, we see the impact of maximizers and satisficers. Physical and mental health are very important to society and certain acts, for example, working out or eating healthy are crucial to becoming and maintaining good health. Although it is more likely for maximizers, some satisficers may also put in effort towards researching gyms that would best fit their exercise needs, and a diet that will suit them best. The difference between maximizers and satisficers is that maximizers will continue through with their daily workouts and continue to follow their diet daily and are found to be more strict about their routine. Satisficers are found to be less strict. They are less hard on themselves if they happen to miss a day at the gym or have a cheat day from their diet by stopping for fast food on their way home.
Being a maximizer often means putting an abundant amount of stress on oneself to make the right decision. This often leads to anxiety and self-criticism, which can deteriorate one's mental health. Fortunately, maximizers tend to make more trips to the doctor's office than satisficers do, which can result in more treatment for the issues. Unfortunately, it can contribute to overutilization in the medical field and the medical resources available and provided. Maximizers may make trips to the doctor with minor inconveniences or concerns, while satisficers may skip out on the trip even for major health concerns. A health maximizer may be experiencing minor chest pain and decide to visit the doctor in case it's a heart attack, while a health satisficer will stay home or continue on with their day. They may later have a heart attack because they did not know the severity or did not worry about how severe it could be (Hilary, 2023).
One of the connections between maximization and mental health is shown in Obsessive-Compulsive (OC) Tendencies. A study was conducted on unscreened adults who may or may not have obsessive-compulsive (OC) individuals. OC individuals “-may obsessively search the internet for a robot vacuum cleaner, feeling compelled to compare more and more brands on more and more attributes or find themselves paralyzed in a supermarket aisle, trying to choose between two brands of cat food” (Oren et al, 2018). They aimed to explore the possible relationships between OC tendencies, seeking proxies for internal states, indecisiveness, and maximization. The hypothesis was if the access to internal states in OC individuals is weakened, it would lead to extensive reliance on external proxies. This could possibly turn into a maximizing style of decision-making i.e. seeking the best option through an exhaustive search of all existing alternatives. The results were consistent with the prediction; OC tendencies were positively associated with maximization. Maximization and indecisiveness were found to be positively but not highly correlated with each other. This study replicated previous findings that maximization is positively related to both depression and anxiety.
- Conclusion
To review, a satisficer is someone who doesn’t strive for the best outcome, they settle. While maximizers feel the desire to do everything to get the best outcome which can hurt them. In order to improve one area of your life as either, try looking at other areas to see if that might be causing extra strain preventing the adaptation of better qualities. Recognizing when to take a moment to breathe and acknowledging that these changes are positive could eventually lead to finding a balance. Various factors can influence someone leaning more towards either viewpoint. Which makes some settings more fitting for one kind of person than the other. Maximizers are better performing in work and school settings due to the accomplishments and benefiting others. But with relationship and health concerns, maximizers tend to cause harm to themselves and others due to never being satisfied with their choices/results. By the time we reach a certain age, we can become set in our ways, so the possibility of switching from being a satisficer to a maximizer and vice versa would be very difficult. It would have to take an event in your life to change your current mentality. Whether it causes you to slow down and be okay with whatever you have. Or give you the desire to strive for more without letting it drown you which with work and patience it could be possible to become the other/opposite.
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