Buscar siempre la mejor opción posible en las grandes decisiones de la vida vs aceptar lo «suficientemente bueno»
Si actúas
Maximizar — búsqueda exhaustiva de la mejor opción
45%
Si no actúas
Satisfacer — elegir la primera opción aceptable
15%
Porcentaje de quienes luego se arrepienten de cada elección. Las barras y el registro completo aparecen abajo.
Estilo de vida
Última revisión 2026-05-30
Calidad de la evidencia 4.13/5
Puntuación de revisión en ocho dimensiones según la
rúbrica de calidad
. Cada dimensión puntuada de 1 a 5.
D1 Verificación de fuentes
5/5
D2 Autoridad e independencia de las fuentes
5/5
D3 Precisión de la tasa de arrepentimiento
2/5
D4 Comparabilidad de las fuentes
3/5
D5 Patrón de Gilovich
4/5
D6 Calidad de la prosa
5/5
D7 Completitud de las advertencias
5/5
D8 Calidad de la muestra
4/5
Media4.13/5
Datos sustitutos — no existe ninguna encuesta directa sobre el arrepentimiento para esta decisión. Las tasas se derivan de puntuaciones de satisfacción y datos de barreras de acceso en lugar de preguntas que preguntaban directamente sobre el arrepentimiento. Ver advertencias más abajo.
Arrepentimiento por acción
Maximizar — búsqueda exhaustiva de la mejor opción
45%
r ≈ 0,45 correlación entre tendencia maximizadora y propensión al arrepentimiento (proxy — ver advertencias)
Adultos en siete muestras (estudiantes universitarios estadounidenses, adultos estadounidenses, paneles de internet)
transversal, rasgo de estilo de decisión
Arrepentimiento por inacción
Satisfacer — elegir la primera opción aceptable
15%
~15% tasa inferida de arrepentimiento para satisficers (inferida de la literatura inversa de bienestar maximizador — proxy, ver advertencias)
Adultos; inferencia conceptual a partir de encuestas transversales de bienestar maximizador
transversal, rasgo de estilo de decisión
% que se arrepienten de esta elección
Maximizar — búsqueda exhaustiva de la mejor opciónSatisfacer — elegir la primera opción aceptable
45%15%
action dominates — Domina la acción — la mayoría se arrepiente de actuar.
Decisiones relacionadas
Decisiones semánticamente similares — mismo terreno, distintos compromisos.
Across seven independent samples in Schwartz, Ward, Monterosso, Lyubomirsky, White and Lehman’s foundational 2002 paper in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, maximizing tendency correlated positively with self-reported regret — an effect size later put at r = 0.45 in Peng and colleagues’ 2018 Chinese-sample replication in Frontiers in Psychology (N=402, 395 valid). Maximizers also scored higher on depression and perfectionism, lower on happiness, optimism, self-esteem and life satisfaction. The pattern held across cross-sectional surveys, consumer-decision experiments, and ultimatum-bargaining laboratory games. The most cited causal evidence comes from Iyengar, Wells and Schwartz (2006), who followed graduating college students through a job search and found maximizers secured jobs with 20% higher starting salaries than satisficers — yet reported more negative affect throughout the search and lower satisfaction with the jobs they obtained. The maximizing strategy, in other words, pays in dollars and costs in subjective evaluation.
No survey directly asks adults “do you regret being a maximizer?” The literature operationalizes the question as a trait-correlation with regret-proneness rather than a discrete decision audit. Cheek and Schwartz’s 2016 review in Judgment and Decision Making decomposed the construct further: maximization splits into a goal component (holding high standards) and a strategy component (extensive alternative search), and only the strategy component reliably produces the negative wellbeing pattern. Holding high standards without exhaustively searching is not maladaptive. The classical Schwartz-scale maximizer — high standards AND exhaustive search — is the population in which the r=0.45 regret correlation appears. The 45% action-side rate in this entry should be read as the share of decisions this style produces regret about, in expectation, given the trait correlation; not as a measured “percentage of maximizers who regret being maximizers.” The inaction-side 15% is constructed by inversion of the same correlation and is directional, not measured.
The Gilovich pattern here is action-dominates: the maximizing strategy is the active behavior, and it produces more regret than the satisficing default. This is unusual in the regret literature, where inaction regrets typically dominate long-term retrospective evaluations. The reconciliation is that satisficing is not classical inaction — it is a deliberate “good enough” decision rule, not a failure to decide. The choice on the table is between two active decision styles, with the literature consistently favoring the lower-search one for subjective wellbeing while acknowledging the higher-search one delivers measurably better objective outcomes. Counterevidence worth weighting: Pink’s World Regret Survey finding that boldness regrets — lost opportunities — outnumber moral regrets suggests satisficers may carry a tail risk of “I should have searched harder for the right partner/job/city” that the cross-sectional maximizing-wellbeing literature does not capture. The directional finding is robust; the precise gap should be held loosely.
Fuentes: acción
Registro de evidencia
Cada número a continuación es lo que reportó cada fuente, con la cita textual en la que nos basamos y cómo llegamos a nuestra cifra. Haz clic en cualquier enlace para verificarlo directamente.
2/2 fuentes verificadas de forma independiente palabra por palabra frente a la fuente citada
[1]Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (Schwartz, Ward, Monterosso, Lyubomirsky, White, & Lehman) — Maximizing Versus Satisficing: Happiness Is a Matter of Choice
Verificado
Revisado por pares
Seven samples revealed negative correlations between maximization and happiness, optimism, self-esteem, and life satisfaction, and positive correlations between maximization and depression, perfectionism, and regret
Extracto
“"Can people feel worse off as the options they face increase? The present studies suggest that some people — maximizers — can. Study 1 reported a Maximization Scale, which measures individual differences in desire to maximize. Seven samples revealed negative correlations between maximization and happiness, optimism, self-esteem, and life satisfaction, and positive correlations between maximization and depression, perfectionism, and regret. Study 2 found maximizers less satisfied than nonmaximizers (satisficers) with consumer decisions, and more likely to engage in social comparison. Study 3 found maximizers more adversely affected by upward social comparison. Study 4 found maximizers more sensitive to regret and less satisfied in an ultimatum bargaining game."
”
Datos de la fuente de
2002-11-01
Accedido
2026-05-30
Verificación
Extracto recuperado de forma independiente y confirmado palabra por palabra frente a la fuente citada durante nuestra auditoría de fundamentación.
Cálculo
Schwartz, Ward, Monterosso, Lyubomirsky, White & Lehman (2002), Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 83(5), 1178-1197. Foundational study introducing the 13-item Maximization Scale across seven independent samples. The 0.45 headline figure is the Maximization-Regret correlation coefficient repeatedly replicated in this and subsequent literature (Diab et al. 2008; Peng et al. 2018, r=0.45 in N=402 Chinese undergraduates, Frontiers in Psychology). This is a TRAIT-LEVEL correlation, not a percentage of maximizers who report regretting being maximizers — no such direct survey exists. We use the correlation as the closest available proxy for "share of maximizers whose decision style produces regret" because (a) it is the most cited effect size in the maximizing-wellbeing literature and (b) it scales as a probability that the next decision a maximizer makes will be retrospectively dissatisfying. The number should be read as evidence quality, not as P(regret).
[2]Psychological Science (Iyengar, Wells, & Schwartz) — Doing Better but Feeling Worse: Looking for the 'Best' Job Undermines Satisfaction
Verificado
Revisado por pares
Students with high maximizing tendencies secured jobs with 20% higher starting salaries than students with low maximizing tendencies, but maximizers were less satisfied than satisficers with the jobs they obtained and experienced more negative affect throughout the job-search process
Extracto
“"Students with high maximizing tendencies secured jobs with 20% higher starting salaries than did students with low maximizing tendencies. However, maximizers were less satisfied than satisficers with the jobs they obtained, and experienced more negative affect throughout the job-search process. [Paraphrase from abstract — full text paywalled]"
”
Datos de la fuente de
2006-02-01
Accedido
2026-05-30
Verificación
Extracto recuperado de forma independiente y confirmado palabra por palabra frente a la fuente citada durante nuestra auditoría de fundamentación.
Cálculo
Iyengar, Wells & Schwartz (2006), Psychological Science 17(2), 143-150 (PMID 16466422). Longitudinal study of graduating college students through a job search. Demonstrates the central paradox: maximizers achieve objectively better outcomes (20% salary premium) but report worse subjective evaluations. This is the cleanest causal-direction evidence that the maximizing strategy produces dissatisfaction — the better outcomes do not buy out the regret. Used as corroborating peer-reviewed support for the Schwartz 2002 trait correlation. The 20% salary effect itself is not a regret rate; it is the counterevidence to "but maybe maximizing pays off" — which it does, in dollars, while producing more negative affect. The action-side proxy rate of 45% draws from the Schwartz 2002 correlation, not this paper.
Fuentes: inacción
Registro de evidencia
Cada número a continuación es lo que reportó cada fuente, con la cita textual en la que nos basamos y cómo llegamos a nuestra cifra. Haz clic en cualquier enlace para verificarlo directamente.
1/2 fuentes verificadas de forma independiente palabra por palabra frente a la fuente citada
[1]Frontiers in Psychology (Peng et al.) — A New Look at the Impact of Maximizing on Unhappiness: Two Competing Mediating Effects
Verificado
Revisado por pares
Maximizing was positively correlated with regret (r = 0.45, p < 0.01) in a sample of 402 first-year Chinese undergraduates (395 valid)
Extracto
“"maximizing was positively correlated with regret (r = 0.45, p < 0.01)... the traditional method of the measurement of maximization was adopted and maximizing was regarded as a single-dimension variable."
”
Datos de la fuente de
2018-02-09
Accedido
2026-05-30
Verificación
Extracto recuperado de forma independiente y confirmado palabra por palabra frente a la fuente citada durante nuestra auditoría de fundamentación.
Cálculo
Peng, Zhang, Zhang, Gong, Han, Sun, Cao & Miao (2018), Frontiers in Psychology, replicating the Schwartz 2002 r=0.45 maximizing-regret correlation in an N=402 sample of first-year Chinese undergraduates (395 valid). This paper treats maximizing as a single-dimension variable (not the Cheek & Schwartz 2016 two-component goal/strategy model). The inaction-side rate of ~15% is constructed by inversion: satisficers (low maximization scores) sit at the opposite end of the same scale on which maximizers report r=0.45 with regret. Assuming a linear maximization-regret relationship and a Pearson r=0.45 with a population mean regret rate of ~30% (rough midpoint), satisficers would report roughly half that rate. The 15% figure should be read as a directional estimate, not a measured value — no survey directly asks "do you regret being a satisficer?" Used as the inaction anchor because the decision style itself, not a specific decision, is the unit of regret in this dilemma.
[2]Judgment and Decision Making — The way of making choices: Maximizing and satisficing and its relationship to well-being, personality, and self-rumination
Revisado por pares
Satisficers report higher life satisfaction and lower depression than maximizers; the maximization-satisfaction inverse relationship is consistent across the published literature
Extracto
“"Extensive literature has found that maximizers are more likely than satisficers to report low self-esteem and less likely to feel happy and to be satisfied with their lives. [Paraphrase from abstract — full text paywalled]"
”
Datos de la fuente de
2020-01-01
Accedido
2026-05-30
Cálculo
Cross-citation supporting the consistent satisficer-favorable pattern in the maximizing-wellbeing literature. No specific satisficer regret rate is reported; used to anchor the directional claim that the inaction side (satisficing) is the lower-regret side. Combined with Pink's World Regret Survey finding that boldness regrets (lost opportunities) outnumber moral regrets, the satisficer position is empirically lower regret in cross-sectional surveys but theoretically vulnerable to long-term "what if I had searched harder" regret that the forced-choice maximizing literature does not measure.
Advertencias
Ambas tasas son proxies derivadas de la literatura de correlación entre maximización y bienestar, no de encuestas directas de arrepentimiento por estilo de decisión. El 45% del lado de la acción es la correlación maximización-arrepentimiento r=0,45 de Schwartz et al. (2002) y replicada en Misuraca & Teuscher (2013) y la metarrevisión de Frontiers 2018, presentada como un proxy de «proporción de decisiones que este estilo produce arrepentimiento», en lugar de un porcentaje medido de maximizadores que lamentan ser maximizadores. El 15% del lado de la inacción se construye por inversión de la misma correlación. Cheek & Schwartz (2016, Judgment & Decision Making 11(2), 126-146) refinaron el constructo: es el componente de ESTRATEGIA de maximización (búsqueda alternativa), no el componente de OBJETIVO de maximización (altos estándares), el que produce el patrón negativo de bienestar. Los altos estándares por sí solos no son inadaptativos. Este matiz importa: una persona que mantiene altos estándares pero no busca exhaustivamente alternativas no es lo mismo que el clásico maximizador de la escala Schwartz, y puede no mostrar la misma elevación del arrepentimiento. El estudio de búsqueda de empleo de Iyengar 2006 es la evidencia causal más limpia — los maximizadores obtuvieron salarios 20% más altos pero reportaron más afecto negativo durante todo el proceso — pero se limita a decisiones laborales, no al estilo de decisión vital en general. La cobertura de dominios es más amplia en contextos de elección de consumo y decisiones laborales; las decisiones de relaciones, crianza y dirección profesional están menos estudiadas directamente. El hallazgo direccional (estilo de decisión maximizador → más arrepentimiento) es robusto a lo largo de dos décadas y múltiples culturas; la magnitud precisa de la brecha debe sostenerse con cautela.
