Is maximizing a bad thing? Linking maximizing tendency to positive outcomes through future-oriented thinking

Xiaoyuan Zhu, Dev K. Dalal, Timothy Hwang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Scopus citations

Abstract

Maximizing Tendency is a decision style characterized by holding a higher standard for one's decision. Initially, this style had been linked to negative life outcomes (e.g., decision regret, life dissatisfaction, depression), but recent studies have begun to show the opposite. In this study, we argue and test the proposition that relations between maximizing and future-oriented outcomes can be explained by futureoriented thinking. Results show that maximizers are more likely to consider the future consequences of their current actions. In turn, maximizers intend to save more, have more savings, show a greater concern for guiding the next generation, and are less likely to engage in temporal discounting behaviors. The study concludes that maximizing can be a beneficial decision style due, in part, to its impact on futureoriented thinking, and adds to a growing literature suggesting that maximizing can, in fact, be a good thing.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)94-101
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of Individual Differences
Volume38
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2017

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
©2017 Hogrefe Publishing.

Keywords

  • Consideration for future consequences
  • Generativity concerns
  • Lifetime savings
  • Maximizing
  • Temporal discounting

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Psychology
  • Biological Psychiatry

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