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Taking Decisions Too Seriously: Why Maximizers Often Get Mired in Choices

Maximizing is a topic that has received significant attention from researchers and corporate organizations alike. Although extensive previous research has explored how maximizers behave in a decision scenario, a fundamental question remains about why they prefer a larger assortment regardless of whe...

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Autores principales: Luan, Mo, Liu, Zhengtai, Li, Hong
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9240276/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35783699
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.878552
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author Luan, Mo
Liu, Zhengtai
Li, Hong
author_facet Luan, Mo
Liu, Zhengtai
Li, Hong
author_sort Luan, Mo
collection PubMed
description Maximizing is a topic that has received significant attention from researchers and corporate organizations alike. Although extensive previous research has explored how maximizers behave in a decision scenario, a fundamental question remains about why they prefer a larger assortment regardless of whether the decisions are important or not. This study attempts to explore the underlying mechanism of this phenomenon. Four surveys were conducted, and participants from Mturk or Credamo online platforms were recruited (N = 922). The maximizing tendency was measured by either maximization scale or maximizing tendency scale, and perceived importance and preference for a large assortment were measured in different decision scenarios. Across four studies, we find that maximizers perceive the same decision as more important than satisficers (Study 1), and perceived importance serves as the mechanism underlying the maximizers’ preference for a large assortment (Study 2). In other words, in maximizers’ perceptions and interpretations, even seemingly trivial decisions are important enough to spend great effort on a large assortment. We additionally identified a boundary condition for the effect – cost salience (Studies 3a and 3b). These findings illustrate a pioneering empirical exploration of the difference in the way maximizers and satisficers perceive their decision importance and the reason for maximizers’ preference for a large assortment.
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spelling pubmed-92402762022-06-30 Taking Decisions Too Seriously: Why Maximizers Often Get Mired in Choices Luan, Mo Liu, Zhengtai Li, Hong Front Psychol Psychology Maximizing is a topic that has received significant attention from researchers and corporate organizations alike. Although extensive previous research has explored how maximizers behave in a decision scenario, a fundamental question remains about why they prefer a larger assortment regardless of whether the decisions are important or not. This study attempts to explore the underlying mechanism of this phenomenon. Four surveys were conducted, and participants from Mturk or Credamo online platforms were recruited (N = 922). The maximizing tendency was measured by either maximization scale or maximizing tendency scale, and perceived importance and preference for a large assortment were measured in different decision scenarios. Across four studies, we find that maximizers perceive the same decision as more important than satisficers (Study 1), and perceived importance serves as the mechanism underlying the maximizers’ preference for a large assortment (Study 2). In other words, in maximizers’ perceptions and interpretations, even seemingly trivial decisions are important enough to spend great effort on a large assortment. We additionally identified a boundary condition for the effect – cost salience (Studies 3a and 3b). These findings illustrate a pioneering empirical exploration of the difference in the way maximizers and satisficers perceive their decision importance and the reason for maximizers’ preference for a large assortment. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-06-15 /pmc/articles/PMC9240276/ /pubmed/35783699 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.878552 Text en Copyright © 2022 Luan, Liu and Li. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Luan, Mo
Liu, Zhengtai
Li, Hong
Taking Decisions Too Seriously: Why Maximizers Often Get Mired in Choices
title Taking Decisions Too Seriously: Why Maximizers Often Get Mired in Choices
title_full Taking Decisions Too Seriously: Why Maximizers Often Get Mired in Choices
title_fullStr Taking Decisions Too Seriously: Why Maximizers Often Get Mired in Choices
title_full_unstemmed Taking Decisions Too Seriously: Why Maximizers Often Get Mired in Choices
title_short Taking Decisions Too Seriously: Why Maximizers Often Get Mired in Choices
title_sort taking decisions too seriously: why maximizers often get mired in choices
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9240276/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35783699
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.878552
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