Paradox of Choice, Happiness, and Depression in Context of Personality and Self-Rumination
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
PARADOX OF CHOICE, HAPPINESS, AND DEPRESSION IN CONTEXT OF PERSONALITY AND SELF-RUMINATION The way of making choices: maximizing and satisficing and its relationship to well- being, personality, and self-rumination Lenka Vargová1, Ľubica Zibrínová1,2, Gabriel Baník1* 1University of Presov, Slovakia 2Center of Clinical Psychology Care, Slovakia Autor note Lenka Vargová, Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, Presov, Slovakia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8758-0997; Ľubica Zibrínová, Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, Presov, Slovakia, and Center of Clinical Psychology Care, Presov, Slovakia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7336-7343; Gabriel Baník, Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, Presov, Slovakia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6601-3619 Please note this manuscript has not yet been peer reviewed and is therefore subject to further changes. This work was funded by Slovak Research and Development Agency [APVV-17-0418] Declaration of interest: none Supplementary materials: https://osf.io/3csjk/ *Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Gabriel Baník, Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, Universtiy of Presov, 17. Novembra 1, 080 01, Presov, Slovakia e-mail: [email protected] Abstract The current age is characterized by having too many options. Decision-making is harder when there are numerous options to choose from. However, having a large number of options is not necessarily a problem for everyone and in this context, maximizing and satisficing tendencies are described. Yet, there is a debate about the effect of these tendencies on well-being and it has to be asked as to whether maximizing and satisficing have an adaptive or maladaptive effect on our well-being. Moreover, it raises questions regarding the conceptualization and measurement of maximizing and satisficing tendencies. In a sample of 480 subjects from the general population, a two-component model of maximizing was examined. The results show that the two-component model (maximizing as a strategy and maximizing as a goal) is an efficient way to measure maximizing tendency. The results show that maximizing as a strategy (measured as alternative search) was maladaptive (was positively related to depression and negatively related to happiness), whereas maximizing as a goal (measured as high standards) had no maladaptive effect (was not related to well-being at all). In addition, the two components were differently associated with personality factors which strengthen the need for measuring maximizing as a two-component model. In the current study, it was found that even though great effort was invested in studying maximizing tendency, satisficing tendency stayed behind and its conceptualization and measurement are unclear. Therefore, the (mal)adaptive effect of these tendencies depends on their conceptualization as well as on how these tendencies are measured, and also on their different relationship with personality factors. Keywords paradox of choice, well-being, personality traits, self-rumination, two-component model of maximizing, satisficing 2 1 Introduction Paradox of choice Nowadays, there are often too many options in situations related to decision-making. This can lead to difficulties with processing such huge amounts of information (Álvarez et al., 2014). Piasecki and Hanna (2011) have suggested that negative experiencing is caused by a deficiency of sufficient options although there is a debate surrounding this. While it seems likely that having several options leads to making better decisions, having a large number of options can have also a negative effect (Kinjo & Ebina, 2014). This has been called the paradox of choice (Schwartz, 2000). In other words, having too many options in the decision-making process can lead to the inability to make a decision (Schwartz, 2004). In particular, the following three problems are related to the paradox of choice: the first is the process of obtaining information about the options related to the choice. The second is the increase in possibilities, which is accompanied by increasing the standards of the desired result. The third problem is that making a mistake in decision-making with so many options available is considered a personal failure (Schwartz et al., 2002). In this context, Schwartz (2000) has suggested that less freedom (in the meaning of fewer options) could be better in the decision-making process. Indeed, it has been argued that in this context “less is sometimes more” (Schwartz, 2004). Maximizing and satisficing However, Schwartz et al. (2002) has explained that if all people reacted negatively to large numbers of options, there would be significant problems making even common decisions. Thus, they distinguish between “maximizing” and “satisficing” in the context of the paradox of choice. The maximizing tendency is the effort given to selecting the best option and the satisficing tendency to selecting a sufficient or “fairly good” option. In other words, maximizing tends to consider a large, if not absolute, number of potential choices in finding the best option and making the best decision. Satisficing tends to consider some criteria of options and when the criteria of options meet with the satisficer’s criteria, this is good enough to make a decision. Unlike satisficers, an increasing number of options in decision-making can be a huge problem for maximizers. Maximizers have far greater difficulty obtaining information about all options in order to make the best choice. Moreover, there is always a chance that there is a much better option than those currently available (Schwartz et al., 2002). While maximizers only consider the decisions with the best results to be correct, satisficers consider all those with sufficient results to be correct (Jenkins & Nolan, 2010). The biggest difference between 3 maximizers and satisficers is how they evaluate the choice after it has been made. It is important for satisficers to have a fairly good result while maximizers are unlikely to say that they have achieved the best result after making their choice (Schwartz et al., 2002). Despite maximizers being able to objectively make better decisions than satisficers, satisficers feel subjectively better with the decision they have made (Álvarez et al., 2014). Maximizers are not able to experience happiness, compared to satisficers who are satisfied with their decisions. The maximizing tendency to find and make the best decision can be maladaptive. In other words, it can contribute to a lower experience of happiness, subjective well-being and a higher incidence of depressive symptoms (Schwartz et al., 2002). However, Diab et al. (2008) have pointed out that maximizers can be portrayed as unhappy and exhausted from the constant search for the best option. Yet, it is important to consider a way of measuring the maximizing tendency which may not show maximizers as being less happy or depressed. Rather, maximizers could be more motivated and subjectively much more satisfied because of the high goals they are able to achieve through this tendency (Bubić & Erceg, 2018). Maximizers can experience more success due to the higher maximizing tendency and success can in turn make them happier (Lyubomirsky et al., 2005). In this context, having a large number of options in the decision- making process may not be negative for maximizers. A greater number of choices be an opportunity to achieve greater goals which can have a positive effect on experiencing satisfaction (Dalal et al., 2015). Indeed, personal goals are very important in the context of happiness (Myers & Diener, 1995). The original theory claims that the maximizing tendency is maladaptive while the satisficing tendency is adaptive (Schwartz et al., 2002). In other words, it states that that maximizers are less happy (or more depressed) than satisficers and vice versa. Yet, this could arguably be the other way round. Dalal et al. (2015) have argued that Schwartz et al. (2002) did not provide an exact definition of these constructs and thus maximizers could be as happy as satisficers (Diab et al., 2008; Dalal et al., 2015). In particular, the operationalization of maximizing is not clear and there is disagreement about how to measure it. It is also not clear if maximizing should be viewed as maladaptive or not. In the theory of paradox of choice (satisficers vs maximizers), certain things need to be clarified: a) anchoring of the theory and conceptual model as well as measuring these tendencies; b) the relationship between these tendencies and well-being (e.g., happiness and depression); c) the relationships between satisficing, maximizing and other variables (variables which are important to both well-being and decision making) Conceptual model and measuring of maximizing and satisficing 4 In the paradox of choice theory, there is no consensus regarding how satisficing and maximizing should be conceptualized and measured. As a result, there are some other issues which need to be addressed: a) it has been suggested that the maximizing and satisficing tendencies constitute a continuum. By this, these tendencies are measured through one tool where a high score indicates maximizing and a low score indicates satisficing (Schwartz et al., 2002; Nenkov et al., 2008; Diab et al,, 2008; Lai, 2010; Weinhardt et al., 2012; Richardson et al., 2014; Dalal et al., 2015). However, others have suggested that maximizing and satisficing tendencies are two separate variables. Therefore, they should be measured by two different instruments