The Interpersonal Cost Of Maximizing

Maximizers follow the principle of pursuing the best and strive to find the option that meets the highest standard in decision-making.Satisficers follow the principle of satisfaction,and only seek the good enough option which reaches their threshold of acceptability.Economically,maximizing is rational.Existing research has revealed that maximiziers can indeed obtain better objective outcomes.Psychologically,however,some studies have shown that maximizing is costly.The subjective experience of maximizers is worse.For example,after making decisions,maximizers feel more regretful and less satisfied with the results.Previous studies focused on the intrapersonal cost of maximizing,but ignored the interpersonal impact.This research intends to explore the social cost of maximizing,and examine observer’s warm perception towards maximiziers and the behavioral consequences of this perception.Maximizers adhere to the highest standards,and they reject more options than satisficers,which may make people think they are more strict and less warm.In social interactions,people attach great importance to the warmth of others and are more willing to provide social support for warm people.Therefore,this research hypothesizes that compared to satisficers,maximizers are perceived as less warm and thus receive less social support.We tested the hypothesis across five studies.Studies 1A(N = 130)and 1B(N =130)explored the participants’ cognition of maximizers on the dimensions of warmth and competence.The results revealed the interpersonal downside of maximizing that people evaluated maximizers as less warm than satisficers.Study 2(N = 65)was conducted in a laboratory setting where the participants provided real social support.The results showed that maximizers received less social support than satisficers.Study 3(N = 130)explored why participants were more reluctant to provide social support for maximizers.The results showed that participants’ low unwillingness to give maximizers social support was the downstream consequence of their low warmth evaluations towards maximizers.In Study 4(N = 200),by presenting participants the positive reactions of maximizers in social interactions,we manipulated participants’ perceived warmth of maximizers and thus changed participants’ willingness to give maximizers social support.The results revealed that showing positive reactions such as expressing gratitude helped maximizers to receive better evaluations on warmth and thus more social support,which provided further evidence that less social support is a downstream consequence of unfavorable warmth evaluations towards maximizers.Overall,the results of this research show that the pursuit of optimization makes people think maximizers are less warm,and then makes people less willing to give them social support.Based on this,maximizers can improve the willingness and behavior of others to provide social support by increasing others’ perception of their warmth.Theoretically,this research reveals the social cost of maximizing and extends the research on maximizing.In addition,this research shows that the motivation of decision-makers and the behavior affected by the motivation will affect the actor’s evaluation of decision-makers,which enriches the research on social cognition.Practically,this research provides guidance for decision makers to establish and maintain good interpersonal relationships.