Maximizing and Satisficing Under Stress and Uncertainty: Impacts on Information-Seeking Behavior

This study examined how maximizing and satisficing decision styles interact with social status-induced stress and uncertainty to shape information-seeking behavior. Using an online experiment (N = 118), participants completed the Household Game to manipulate social status stress and a Decision-Making Game to measure information preference and avoidance. It was hypothesized that maximizers would seek more information, show greater decision paralysis, and avoid threatening information under stress. Results showed that intolerance of uncertainty, rather than decision style, was the strongest predictor of information-seeking: participants high in intolerance to uncertainty sampled significantly more information across conditions. No significant interaction emerged for decision paralysis; all participants became faster over time, though perceived mastery accelerated decisions and stress slowed them. As predicted, maximizers in the low status group selectively avoided loss-related...Show moreThis study examined how maximizing and satisficing decision styles interact with social status-induced stress and uncertainty to shape information-seeking behavior. Using an online experiment (N = 118), participants completed the Household Game to manipulate social status stress and a Decision-Making Game to measure information preference and avoidance. It was hypothesized that maximizers would seek more information, show greater decision paralysis, and avoid threatening information under stress. Results showed that intolerance of uncertainty, rather than decision style, was the strongest predictor of information-seeking: participants high in intolerance to uncertainty sampled significantly more information across conditions. No significant interaction emerged for decision paralysis; all participants became faster over time, though perceived mastery accelerated decisions and stress slowed them. As predicted, maximizers in the low status group selectively avoided loss-related information. These findings highlight that maximizing behavior is context-sensitive and shaped by emotional and motivational factors.Show less

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Maximizing and Satisficing Under Stress and Uncertainty: Impacts on Information-Seeking Behavior