The price of gaining: maximization in decision-making, regret and life satisfaction

Journal Title: Judgment and Decision Making - Year 2014, Vol 9, Issue 5

Abstract

Maximizers attempt to find the best solution in decision-making, while satisficers feel comfortable with a good enough solution. Recent results pointed out some critical aspects of this decision-making approach and some concerns about its measurement and dimensional structure. In addition to the analysis of these aspects, we tested the possible mediational role of regret in this psychological process. The Maximization Inventory (MI; satisficing, decision difficulty, and alternative search), regret, and Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) were translated and adapted to Spanish in order to answer these issues with a Chilean sample. Validity and reliability analysis of the MI reports that only two dimensions of the MI have enough dimensional support (decision difficulty, alternative search). The tested structural model shows good fit of partial mediation effect of regret between decision difficulty and SWLS. At the same time, alternative search has a positive relation with SWLS. These results suggest that Regret becomes crucial for prescribing behavior to decision makers.

Authors and Affiliations

Emilio Moyano-Díaz, Agustín Martínez-Molina and Fernando P. Ponce

Keywords

Related Articles

Using the ACT-R architecture to specify 39 quantitative process models of decision making

Hypotheses about decision processes are often formulated qualitatively and remain silent about the interplay of decision, memorial, and other cognitive processes. At the same time, existing decision models are specified...

Trade-upgrade framing effects: Trades are losses, but upgrades are improvements

In two studies, people were reluctant to trade items they own, but glad to accept upgrades with identical end states. The framing of the transaction makes a difference. A mediational analysis suggests that the relationsh...

Are neoliberals more susceptible to bullshit?

We conducted additional analyses of Pennycook et al.’s (2015, Study 2) data to investigate the possibility that there would be ideological differences in “bullshit receptivity” that would be explained by individual diffe...

The Sharing Game: Fairness in resource allocation as a function of incentive, gender, and recipient types

Economic games involving allocation of resources have been a useful tool for the study of decision making for both psychologists and economists. In two experiments involving a repeated-trials game over twenty opportuniti...

Perceived time pressure and the Iowa Gambling Task

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of perceived time pressure on a learning-based task called the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). One hundred and sixty-three participants were randomly assigned to o...

Download PDF file
  • EP ID EP678145
  • DOI -
  • Views 146
  • Downloads 0

How To Cite

Emilio Moyano-Díaz, Agustín Martínez-Molina and Fernando P. Ponce (2014). The price of gaining: maximization in decision-making, regret and life satisfaction. Judgment and Decision Making, 9(5), -. https://europub.co.uk/articles/-A-678145