Most people assume that maximizers are happier than satisficers. When I described the terms to a friend, she asked, “Who would want to be a satisficer?” We see it played out in American stores every day—the more choices, the better. Sufficing sounds like settling. But in a blog for her latest book, The Happiness Project, writer Gretchen Rubin offers a joke that illustrates the biggest reason maximizing can backfire. “The curse of Yale Law School,” she writes, “is to try to die with your options open.”
Choices can overwhelm a maximizer. Consider, for example, the maximizer who lives in New York because it offers the “best of the best.” Living in a town of limited choices is anathema to this person. But when it comes time to choose a restaurant, the task is daunting. There are more than 18,600 restaurants in New York City, and new ones open every day. A maximizer spends so much time researching which restaurant is best that she’s exhausted before she ever even sets foot in her eatery of choice.
Research has supported the theory that sometimes more choice is less. In a 2000 study, participants were more likely to purchase gourmet jams when there were six options to choose from than when there were twenty-four, even though more people were initially attracted to the booth with more choices. Those who chose from fewer options reported greater satisfaction with their purchases.
Barry Schwartz, author of The Paradox of Choice, argues that satisficers tend to be happier than maximizers because they’re less prone to social comparison and regret. Maximizers experience “significantly less life satisfaction, happiness, optimism, and self-esteem,” Schwartz’s study reports, “and significantly more regret and depression.” While a maximizer’s objective outcome might be better (a nicer house, a more handsome spouse, a higher-paying job), the subjective outcome is less desirable if it entails anxiety, regret, or even the fear of regret.
Hillary Graham knows the feeling. “I think I’m a maximizer,” she says, “but it doesn’t necessarily make me happier.” Graham uses the example of her current relationship. She’s been dating her boyfriend for more than three years, but she has turned down his marriage proposal several times. “I’m always wondering if something better is out there,” she admits.
As a restaurant maximizer, I may have missed my calling as a food critic. Then again, I’m a career satisficer; I’ve found something I enjoy doing, and I think I’ll stick with it for a while. Does that make me happier? I’m not sure, but I won’t be pondering it at a restaurant. I’ve got more important decisions to weigh there.
