Graduation Term

2018

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Department of Psychology

Committee Chair

Matthew Hesson-McInnis

Abstract

The relation between maximizing tendency, the tendency to search for alternatives to make the highest quality decision, and its theorized outcome, regret, has mixed support in previous maximizing tendency literature. In the current study, it was hypothesized that measuring maximizing tendency in different contexts, as opposed to measuring maximizing tendency globally, could reduce this inconsistency. This hypothesis was tested by administering measures of maximizing tendency from different contexts and maximizing tendency without context and using the results in hypothesized models. The models were tested using confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and path analysis. Results showed that using context specific measures of maximizing tendency did not predict regret better and instead showed that using measures of maximizing tendency without context led to models predicting regret with marginally good fit. Exploratory analyses, lastly, revealed that separating maximizing tendency into its components may have practical implications for future studies attempting to reduce inconsistency in the maximizing tendency literature.

Access Type

Thesis-Open Access

DOI

http://doi.org/10.30707/ETD2018.Holzhauer.T

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