Maximizing Without Borders: Evidence That Maximizing Transcends Decision Domains

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Decision Science
• Behavioral Economics

Background:

• Maximizing, the pursuit of the best possible outcome, is often assumed to be a stable trait across different decision-making contexts.
• However, empirical evidence directly testing this cross-domain consistency of maximizing is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether the tendency to maximize (trait maximizing) is consistently associated with maximizing behavior across diverse decision domains.
• To examine the relationship between trait maximizing and domain-specific maximizing in consumer goods, services/experiences, and life decisions.

Main Methods:

• Two studies were conducted: Study 1 used a longitudinal design to assess trait maximizing and domain-specific maximizing at two time points, mitigating common method bias.
• Study 2 was a large-scale, pre-registered cross-sectional replication to confirm the findings.

Main Results:

• Trait maximizing was positively associated with maximizing tendencies across all examined decision domains: consumer goods, services/experiences, and life decisions.
• Consistent with prior research, trait maximizing showed a weaker association with maximizing in services and experiences compared to consumer goods and life decisions.

Conclusions:

• The findings provide empirical support for the cross-domain nature of maximizing, a core assumption in maximizing theory.
• The results highlight domain-specific nuances in maximizing behavior, suggesting that the strength of maximizing varies depending on the decision context.