Satisfiers vs maximizers

I think everyone is both in different situations. I personally don't give a shit about brands of food. If I want a sandwich, I'll go to the bread aisle and grab the first thing that I see.

My fiance will spend 15 minutes comparing the prices, nutritional values, staleness, and packaging of like 50 different loaves, and she does this with basically every food item.

On the flip side, if I need a new monitor or something, I'll spend weeks or months researching specs, reading reviews, comparing prices, and shopping around before making a decision.

My fiance would just go to a goodwill and pick up a random used piece of crap, or just take someone's old obselete monitor.

She doesn't value computer monitors much, and I don't value bread much.

I'm sure your wife does have things she's particular about. It probably just isn't lawnmowers.

Lord.... I am definitely a maximiser but I am trying very hard to be more of a satisfier when it honestly doesn't matter. Because like you say, it's a huge amount of effort and time to actually get a result and honestly noone needs that for everything.
So lots of time and effort to select a USB C cable for my car is a work in progress lol.

I'm definitely a satisfier married to a maximizer, but for a second I was incredibly confused and thought we were talking about something, err, else :')

Interesting ideas though! Never really realised that's what our dynamic was - I just figured it was my ADHD lol

For many things (especially electronics), I identify with Calvin's dad buying peanut butter.

Barry Schwartz' The Paradox of Choice was where I first came across the concept of Satisfiers vs. Maximizers, and it arrived as a concept just when I needed it. I am by nature a Maximizer, to the point where it made me (unwittingly) quite unhappy, as the cognitive and stress overload of making the 'right' choice was miserable. Switching to a satisficing mindset has been so much better for my overall mental health, I don't think it's an exaggeration to say it's one of the more important lessons I've learned over the years.

Of course, that doesn't mean I don't care at all about features, value, quality, etc etc etc. It just means that I now, for the first time, properly take the cognitive load, possible extra benefit, and all the overhead in to the cost evaluation function when making my decision. And honestly, once you've hit 90%+ of your need/want, you're almost certainly fine, and it really is to your benefit to stop, decide, then move on to the next thing. It really is mentally freeing.

Where I land on the satisficer vs maximizer depends on the item in question. Generally the more I will use the item or how long I suspect I'll own it. So, in cases of which peanut butter to buy (see: Boojum's comment), I won't be fretting over all the choices much. Where as something like my desk chair that I sit in every day for many hours, for many years, I will maximize the hell out of it.

I feel like I can be both, depending on the situation. In general, I tend to be more a maximizer if I'm in a good or energetic mood, and I am more likely to be a satisficer if I'm tired or impatient. I would consider "satisficer" a misnomer, however, because I am almost always happier with purchases that I maximize. This is for a few reasons, I think:

1. I hate waste. I rarely remember the research I put into a purchase, but low durability or suitability will bug me until I get rid of the thing — and getting rid of something that I expected to keep a long time causes me a lot of resentment. I still remember bad impulse purchases I made decades ago; it's similar feeling to remembering being taken advantage of.
2. Depending on the product category, I enjoy making decisions and window shopping. Sometimes I weigh the pros and cons of hypothetical purchases (which I don't actually intend to make) just as a pastime.
3. I generally understand my needs and wants quite well. I usually go into a purchase knowing what I'm after (and, just as importantly, what I'm not after), and then it's a matter of finding out whether any products suffice for the right budget. I try to avoid over-buying and aim for products without a lot of extraneous features, since they come with a cost — in terms of money, durability, and ease of use.
4. If I find a product that hits the sweet spot, it gives me a lot of pleasure for a very long time. Whenever I look at it, I remember how it perfectly suits my household. Even if a "better" version exists, I am fine because that doesn't change the nature of the product I have.

Definitely a Maximizer. Or is it decision paralysis? Either way, it tends to show up most with electronics shopping, but travel is the other one where I'm really bad.

It can take me hours to look at flights, times, days, carriers (even though I'm pretty much guaranteed to go with Delta or Southwest), alternative means of transportation like Amtrak, if possible, etc, etc.

Same for the hotel. I almost exclusively use Marriott properties. Yet I'm going to look at all 10 properties in the area I want to stay at. Then I'm going to look at not only the Marriott site, but also my credit cards' travel sites. Gonna see if there are deals with using this CC versus that CC. What restaurants and shops are in the area? What does street view look like? So on and so forth.

I might spend an entire evening looking at transportation, sleep on it for a night or two, then spend an entire evening looking at hotels, and sleep on that for a night or two. Sometimes transportation is two whole evenings.

But I'll have next to no plans for what I'm actually going to do once I get there. I just wing it. Walk around, maybe look at the local CVB site for some ideas -- once I'm in town -- and just play it entirely by ear. I don't even plan out the whole trip.

As with anything my partner and I have different areas where we are satisfiers or maximizers. For most physical objects she is a satisfier, for occasions or event planning she is a mazimizer.

The lawn mower is an interesting case. We bought one recently, and if we had been in the market for a gas mower I probably would have just looked at some general reviews for reliability and picked one that I liked the look of. But we were shopping for electric and that means buying into a battery ecosystem. So I did a lot of research on what other tools the same company produces and performance of those tools. What made me pick the Ego mower was that they have a higher voltage and snow/leaf blowers operate better with that higher voltage. So yeah I guess I picked my lawn mower based on a leaf blower I might not buy. (Though this mower was well rated and I like it so that's fine.)

Very difficult question.

I can be both, I guess.

I definitely like to buy things based on "what you get per buck" which tells me I'm maximizer.

But then there are things I buy based on "I already have this in my hand so I'm not gobna change it for that". My wife hates this side of me. When she asks if I want this or that (ie. which T-shirt I want to wear), I tell her to pick the one on top or on the right - each of them will.do the job fine.

I can buy cheap thing if it works for me (ie. my smartphone Nokia G22) and yet I'm willing to spend money on expensive one if the criteria is the same - it works (ie. my Unifi APs I bought for the house). And I can even sit somewhere in between (I would buy Framework Laptop 12 - it's almost as good as 13 and costs much less, while still being more expensive than mass-made laptops of similar peeformance; but it is repairable and upgradeable, which is why I would pick that instead of cheap crap from ie. HP).

EDIT: I totally understand your girlfriend though. She will be living much happier life, probably more happy than many of us here. She doesn't care that much about everything and YOLOs it. I hope she picks right choices and they don't turn against them (ie. the mower will keep working fine). I can totally understand the view of "this works for me, I don't want to look further".

I think I'm in both camps, depending on what I buy. Generally if it's a big purchase, I'll be a lot more picky and careful since ideally it'll last me for years. For smaller stuff though it can go either way.

Weirdly I think the maximizer instinct also triggers more shopping online than in a physical store. USB cable for our phone chargers? I looked at the Amazon reviews for multiple listings to decide on one, but then I bought a USB cable for my Macbook charger when at Five Below. Headphones? Put off buying them and had even considered asking audiophiles for recommendations, but if I saw some in a store at a decent price with wires and the ability to fold down, I'd just buy those. (Still kinda need a new pair actually, my dad got me some for Christmas a couple years ago but they're very bulky and don't fold down, so not really the best for casual use.) I also did a lot of research when buying a radio for my mom online last Christmas, but I know I would have bought whatever was inside a store.

I guess the existence of reviews is more likely to trigger that instinct to find the best option.

I'm a compulsive maximizer, married to someone who's a satisficer/maximizer depending on the thing. We both made spreadsheets when house shopping or buying a TV or car - the effort is usually proportional to the expenditure. We drove our realtor crazy because we looked at 20+ houses before finding the one that checked the most boxes.

He'll browse /r/BIFL for specifics like belts or boots, but buys random Target t-shirts or earbuds. I'll spend weeks looking for a bag (never just a "purse") that can carry and organize the specific tools, cables, cosmetics, cards, devices, etc. that I feel compelled to have with me at all times, without being hideous. This is my current EDC.

I've found that I can keep the maximizing tendency under control by setting a budget limit and a deadline before shopping. If I can't meet either one, I don't buy anything until it becomes unavoidable... thus forcing a satisficed decision. Does it make me happier? No, but it wastes less energy, time, and money on the previously mentioned analysis paralysis. For some things, the available choices have all reached a local maxima of median quality (e.g. eggs, soy milk, disposable pens, garden soil...) where I can confidently grab whatever's on the shelf at Costco without regrets.

I am a Multiplicator-Maximiser.

Not only do I attempt to maximise the hell out of every single choice, I also avoid making any choices unless/until making one can serve at least two different objectives, and in that case, I will attempt to maximise all outcomes.

I think I'm like this due to my inattentive ADHD. Making the wrong choice usually has severe repercussions, and making any choice takes up so much energy that it's not too much harder to make an optimal choice while I'm at it, rather than just any choice.

Good question!

I'll have to go with "it depends", too. With your definition, I'm a satisfier at heart. I will take what is available to me and run with that. I will choose what I need on very few criterias, mostly utilitary. I.e. I want a wireless keyboard: I'll but any keyboard that I can use wirelessly; I want a new desk: I'll buy any desk that has the required height and two drawers. Stuff like that.

I'll maximize if I want a good X. For instance, I renewed a lot of my camping gear this year and for most of it, I was a maximizer. I want the best lightweight camping chair. I want the best low-hardtop camping table.

My philosophy is mostly "buy what you need first. Maximize the 2nd buy with what you want."

For me it varies. There are some things where I’ll put considerable time and effort into research and others where I just want to get it out of my hair and move on.

There’s not necessarily much consistency with where I land on the spectrum with each thing, except that there’s a tendency for “bigger” decisions to lean more in the satisfier direction and more trivial ones in the maximizer direction, which is probably the reverse of what most would find intuitive. I haven’t sat down and picked apart why I’m this way but my guess is that for bigger things, analysis paralysis is a bigger risk as is regret, both of which can be minimized by just not thinking about it all that deeply. On the other hand, if my research on figuring out which water bottle or pair of headphones or whatever is best doesn’t pan out, the stakes are pretty low.