An item response theory and factor analytic examination of two prominent maximizing tendency scales
Journal Title: Judgment and Decision Making - Year 2012, Vol 7, Issue 5
Abstract
The current study examines the construct validity of the Maximization Scale (MS; Schwartz et al., 2002) and the Maximization Tendency Scale (MTS; Diab et al., 2008) as well as the nomological net of the maximizing construct. We find that both scales of maximizing suffer psychometrically, especially in their proposed dimensionality. Using confirmatory factor analysis and item response theory (IRT) we identify and remove three problematic items from the MTS and six problematic items from the MS. Additionally, we find that the MS appears to be measuring difficulty and restlessness with the search for the best alternative, whereas the MTS is more focused on the search for the best option, regardless of choice difficulty. We then examined these revised scales in relation to other psychological constructs in the nomological net for maximizing and found that maximizers may not be unhappy but are generally distressed in the decision-making context. Finally, we suggest that future maximizng research use revised form of the MTS that seems to us to be most consistent with the original concept of maximizing/satisficing.
Authors and Affiliations
Justin M. Weinhardt, Brendan J. Morse and Janna Chimeli
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP678022
- DOI -
- Views 144
- Downloads 0
Anticipatory stress interferes with utilitarian moral judgment
A recent study indicates that acute stress affects moral decision making (Youssef et al., in press). The current study examines whether results can be replicated using a different kind of stressor and a different kind of...
Gender Differences in Risk Assessment: Why do Women Take Fewer Risks than Men?
Across many real-world domains, men engage in more risky behaviors than do women. To examine some of the beliefs and preferences that underlie this difference, 657 participants assessed their likelihood of engaging in va...
Naturalness judgments by lay Americans: Process dominates content in judgments of food or water acceptability and naturalness
This study directly tests the hypothesis that, at least within the domains of food and drink for Americans, the judgment of naturalness has more to do with the history of an object, that is the processes that it has unde...
Intuitive numbers guide decisions
Measuring reaction times to number comparisons is thought to reveal a processing stage in elementary numerical cognition linked to internal, imprecise representations of number magnitudes. These intuitive representations...
Magical thinking in predictions of negative events: Evidence for tempting fate but not for a protection effect
In this paper we test two hypotheses regarding magical thinking about the perceived likelihood of future events. The first is that people believe that those who “tempt fate” by failing to take necessary precautions are m...