Satisficers and Maximizers

Grant, are you familiar with the term satisficer?

Yeah, yes I am.

Versus a maximizer?

Yeah, satisficer versus maximizer.

So a satisficer is somebody when given many choices, will take the first or maybe the second thing that really just meets their basic requirements and go forward.

Right, right.

So they walk into a store that sells televisions, they look at all their options, they pretty much go with the first one that’s the right size and the right cost, and they walk out.

The maximizer, before they even walk into the store, has already done a full web search, has already talked to family, has asked on a couple discussion forums, has done some measurements of the space in the living room.

And then when they walk into the store, they will look at every model and try a bunch of channels on each, talk to several different staff members, and then make their purchase.

That’s it.

How did you know that?

Guess which one I am.

I think we’re both maximizers.

Yeah, a little bit.

Yeah, but I never heard that term until the other day.

And satisficer comes from back in the 1950s.

Yeah, so the maximizer-satisficer thing is something that they discuss in business school when you’re trying to figure out how people get to a buying decision.

And it’s also, by the way, something that comes up in family therapy because it sometimes explains differences of opinion about how a household is managed.

Right, right.

Some people are perfectly fine if the dishes are in the kitchen, but maybe not clean.

That’s close enough.

And other people are like, no, they have to actually be washed.

That’s a satisficer.

And end up in the cabinet clean.

Right.

And a balance of that is really good.

But I think we’re both maximizers, aren’t we?

Yeah, I think so too, yeah.

We’re doing okay.

We’re doing all right.

877-929-9673.

Twitter handle is Wayword.

We’re on Facebook on a page and a group.

And you can send us email to words@waywordradio.org.