Satisficing

Th- there's another, uh, piece of work that I'd like to talk about in this decision-making, uh, framework, and that is about maximizing and satisficing Maximizing involves trying to identify the very best outcome, and satisficing involves choosing something that meets our important requirements.

And I feel I need to do a shout-out to my buddy, Steve Lamb, who was doing his research, his honors and master's research, in the same, uh, lab where I did my research studies, including my PhD, and a shout-out to our wonderful supervisor, Dr. Jayman Halberstadt.

Satisficing might sound like settling for second best, but it isn't necessarily.

Barry Schwartz and his colleagues published research in 2002 exploring these different approaches to decision-making.

They found that people who reported a stronger tendency to maximize also tended to experience more regret and less happiness.

And that's something that goes through to everything.

But the contradiction there is also in many things I will do satisficing.

Satisficing, of course, is a portmanteau term which combines satisfy and suffice.

You are satisfied with what suffices.

And for many small things, I will indeed, you know, suffice.

Taking a moment to write them down interrupts that cortisol flood and allows your prefrontal cortex, the logical part of your brain, to regain control.

Synthesizing all of this research, we are essentially talking about shifting our operational framework from maximizing to satisficing.

Satisficing.

That's a great word.

The economist Herbert Simon actually coined satisficing to describe a decision-making strategy that aims for a satisfactory or adequate result rather than the optimal or perfect one.

So settling means that you're not getting what's good enough.

Satisficing means that you have enough to satisfy your needs as well as it's sufficient.

It's not maximizing.

Maximizing is when you say, "This, these are all of the components that I need.

These are all the check boxes that I need, and I'm not going to move forward until I get all of these checked." That's maximizing.

Satisficing is where you say, "Well, you know, I'm still highly paid.

The work is still interesting.

Um, I might not be respected.

spent on that search, which was unavailable for other uses.

Satisficing encourages us to consider the options, evaluate them with some care, make a decision, and move on.

How does the concept of satisficing apply to conflict? Different ways.

First, we can get frustrated if events, people, or relationships are not rolling out as we wish they were.