Decision, Vol 10(1), Jan 2023, 31-43; doi:10.1037/dec0000183
Maximizing–satisficing theory proposes that people differ in their propensity to optimize outcomes and compare all options before making a choice versus identifying an option that is good enough. Recently, a seemingly related idea arose from the medical decision-making literature, medical maximizing–minimizing, which proposes stable individual differences in people’s propensity to seek versus avoid health care. While maximizing–satisficing and medical maximizing–minimizing are sometimes construed as the same construct applied to different decision contexts, there is no empirical evidence to support that assumption. The purpose of this article is to bring together these literatures and to identify the extent to which these constructs are related or distinct. Results from a large (N = 505), demographically diverse internet survey showed that medical maximizing–minimizing is related, yet conceptually and empirically distinct, from the three dimensions of maximizing–satisficing (goal maximizing, strategy maximizing, and decision difficulty). Factor analysis showed that these measures load onto separate factors. Medical maximizing–minimizing was uniquely predictive of health care preferences after adjusting for the three other maximizing dimensions and socioeconomic variables. Medical maximizing–minimizing did not predict most health care utilization outcomes after adjusting for socioeconomic variables. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)