Decision strategy, which you will never regret

When the time is approaching dinner, you are more and more dreaming of a fragrant sandwich with grilled cheese. You often use the delivery service and know all the best food points that are located near your office. You can make an order right now, and then by lunchtime the dream will be directly in your hands. But here's the question: have you already developed a strategy for choosing the best product? Maybe you use the services of the same food point or carefully choose the delivery conditions and method of preparation. Are there options that you will not regret, or are you ready to try all the food within a radius of three kilometers from the office?

In making decisions, people are divided into two categories

For some people, nothing is easier than making a choice. Studies in the field of psychology have revealed that all people, when it comes to decision-making, fall into two categories. On the one hand, there are those who stop searching for the optimal product or service as soon as they find something that fully meets their requirements. And on the other hand, there are "maximizers" that revise all the possibilities several times. If you are among the first, then you will act according to a certain scenario. You need Cheddar cheese, toast and bacon. The option that comes first in your eyes will be your choice. Why look for something else when the main conditions are satisfied?

On the other hand, the so-called "maximizers" will look for their sandwich and further, sooner or later they will return to the original version. These people should be sure that there can not be anything better in this large list. They will never eat a sandwich, which is not worthy of the title of the most delicious.

The strategy is no less important than the decision itself

A reasonable strategy in making decisions is one that can be described as "good enough". As practice shows, people among the "moderate", as a rule, are more happy in their choice. "Maximizers" are less happy, because they have to spend a lot of time thinking about both trivial (choice of lunch) and global things (career). Variants that are discarded along the way later do not give them peace. These people all the time it seems that in the end they chose not the best thing. However, according to the scientific research, the results of which were published in the journal "Personality and Social Psychology", the story continues.

A study aimed at assessing the satisfaction with life

In a series of experiments, researchers identified participants' level of satisfaction with life and a propensity for self-reflection, depending on their inherent decision-making strategy. In one experiment, each volunteer had to agree or challenge the statement "For me, there are only the highest standards," and then tell researchers about their emotional state, looking back at a hypothetical decision-making scenario.

Promotion and evaluation

Based on the results obtained, the authors of the study found in the "maximizers" two more subcategories. Those people who are focused on promotion, are accustomed to carefully weigh the shortcomings and advantages of each choice. To a greater extent, this subgroup is looking to find its own advantage. Well, those of them who are focused on evaluation, initially assume that there is an objectively better choice or period, and they just have to sift through all the information in order to find this option.

To whom does the weight of anxiety predispose?

The scientists came to the conclusion that people from the second group bear the brunt of the alarm of the "maximizers". "On the one hand, it's good when you have the opportunity to carefully review the options. But when you re-evaluate the same opportunities, it causes disappointment and regret, "said lead author Jeffrey Hughes, a social psychologist at the University of Waterloo in Canada. This encourages you to continue to think about all the options that you had to leave, instead of enjoying the final choice.