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Time flies when you maximize - maximizers and satisficers perceive time differently when making decisions
Raffaella Misuraca1, Ursina Teuscher
1Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze-Ed. 15, 90128 Palermo, Italy. raffaella.misuraca@unipa.it
Acta Psychologica
|April 16, 2013
Summary
Maximizers and satisficers perceive time differently during decision-making, influenced by cognitive workload. Maximizers consistently underestimated decision time, while satisficers
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Decision Science
Background:
- Decision-making strategies, such as maximizing and satisficing, involve varying cognitive demands.
- The relationship between cognitive workload during decision-making and subjective time perception remains underexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether maximizing and satisficing decision-making types are associated with distinct time perception.
- To explore the role of cognitive workload in these differences.
Main Methods:
- Three experiments were conducted to compare time perception between maximizers and satisficers.
- Participants' decision-making processes and task requirements were manipulated.
- Subjective time perception during decision tasks and other control tasks was measured.
Main Results:
- Maximizers and satisficers exhibited different time perception patterns specifically during decision-making tasks.
- Maximizers consistently underestimated the time spent making decisions, irrespective of task complexity.
- Satisficers' time underestimation occurred only under conditions of higher cognitive load (more options or challenging requirements).
Conclusions:
- Subjective time perception can serve as an indicator of the cognitive workload associated with different decision-making styles.
- Findings suggest that satisficers employ a more adaptive or malleable decision-making process compared to maximizers.
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