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