Roughly 52% of maximizers — people who compulsively search for the best option — score above the midpoint of a validated 7-point Regret Scale, compared with approximately 20% of satisficers who decide quickly and move on. These figures are derived estimates, not direct survey responses: Schwartz et al. (2002) found, across seven samples totaling roughly 1,747 participants, a correlation of r = .47 between maximizing tendency and regret — one of the strongest individual- difference predictors of regret in the psychological literature. The study reported means on a continuous scale (full-sample mean ~3.18, SD ~0.79); the 52% and 20% values are rough estimates of the proportion in each group exceeding the scale midpoint. The paradox sharpened in Iyengar, Wells, and Schwartz’s (2006) job-search study: maximizers landed salaries 20% higher than satisficers yet reported more negative affect and less satisfaction with their outcomes. Objectively better results did not buy subjectively better feelings.
The mechanism appears to be rumination. Dey, Joormann, Moulds, and Newell (2018) experimentally showed that abstract rumination — the “why did I choose this?” mode of thinking — amplified post-decisional regret compared to concrete processing, across two studies. Maximizers default to exactly this abstract style: after choosing, they keep rejected alternatives mentally alive, cycling through counterfactual scenarios that erode satisfaction with whatever they picked. Satisficers, by contrast, close the cognitive file. They think less about roads not taken, which means fewer raw materials for regret to build on. The result is a stable pattern: more deliberation, more regret — not because the decision was worse, but because the deliberation process itself generates the regret.
The main limitation is that the regret rates above are derived proxies, not direct survey percentages. Schwartz et al. never asked a binary “do you regret?” question; we converted continuous scale scores into estimated proportions above the midpoint, a transformation that introduces substantial uncertainty. The seven samples were all convenience-recruited. The maximizer-satisficer distinction is a continuum, not a clean binary, and the regret gap narrows in the middle of the distribution. Still, the directional finding replicates across samples, cultures, and decision domains: overthinking a choice does not inoculate against regret but reliably amplifies it.