In making decisions, are you an ant or a grasshopper?

In one of Aesop's famous fables, we are introduced to the grasshopper and the ant, whose decisions about how to spend their time affect their lives and future. The jovial grasshopper has a blast all summer singing and playing, while the dutiful ant toils away preparing for the winter.   

Findings in a recent study add to a growing body of evidence that, although it may seem less appealing, the ant's gratification-delaying strategy should not be viewed in a negative light.   “This decision strategy can be harder or more time-consuming in the moment, but it appears to have the best outcome in the long run, even if it isn't fun,” says the lead researcher. Of course all parents try and make their kids into ants-in this sense of the word.   The ant is what the researchers would call a maximizer. A maximizer is someone who makes decisions that they expect will impact themselves and others most favorably: they seek to “maximize” the positive and make the best choices imaginable. Yet the ant may consider so many variables that the same tendency to maximize benefit may lead to difficulty in making decisions. 

Previous research suggested this, with maximizers being less happy overall, having higher stress levels, and possibly regretting decisions they made.   The present researchers, however, suggest that maximizing has beneficial consequences.   “Maximizers are forward thinking, conscientious, optimistic, and satisfied,” the researchers say. “Though a lot of work and thought go into those decisions, maximizing has beneficial outcomes.” Surviving the winter perhaps?   On the other end of the spectrum, the grasshopper is more of what researchers might refer to as a satisficer (satisfy plus suffice = satisfice), or someone who will be happy with things being “good enough,” who tends to opt for instant gratification and tends to live moment to moment. That sounds like me. “A satisficer will make a decision, feel good about making it, and move on,” they add.   

The ant and the grasshopper are of course extreme examples of each dispositional type, and most people exhibit both qualities. “There tends to be a bell curve and most people fall towards the middle and exhibit aspects of both tendencies,” the lead author says.   To conduct the study, the researchers used Amazon's Mechanical Turk or MTurk service, where their survey was given to hundreds of participants, generating a pool of data.   

Survey takers were asked questions regarding financial decisions, namely savings habits and tendencies. They rated various statements, such as “I never settle for second best,” on a five-point scale from strongly agree to strongly disagree. The questionnaire was designed to gauge whether participants tended to maximize their decisions, how they felt their decisions would impact the future, and how they viewed smaller immediate rewards or larger future rewards.   The survey also looked at how participants expected their decisions to affect the future. They were asked to rate statements like, “I consider how things might be in the future and try to influence those things with my day to day behavior,” and “I often think about saving money for the future,” and to provide information about lifetime savings amounts and current income.   “What we are measuring are tendencies,” the lead says. “When we ask what people tend to do, they're pretty stable and can be pretty good predictors for actual behavior.”   Once data was gathered, researchers crunched the numbers and observed trends. With maximizers, the data suggested a positive relationship with their future-oriented thinking, better money-saving habits, and concern for the future of others.   

So what? “Maximizing can be a good thing,” the researchers conclude. “Previous research looked at decision-making difficulty and other negative outcomes, and that added a negative connotation to maximizing tendencies. We're trying to frame it in light of the high standards and the beneficial outcomes, to help reshape the view of maximizing.”   The research confirms several things about decision-making. The first is that all decisions—those made by the ant or the grasshopper are based on the idea of the maximizing of reward. This is the reward value that the ventral prefrontal cortex decides will be gained from a particular action or decision. The actions of both the maximizer and the “satisficer” are both driven, almost entirely unconsciously, by the same neurogenetic system.

 You will only plan and save for the future if you enjoy the process of planning or if you are seeking to gain favor from someone or some group who will reward you for doing so.   We are almost certainly genetically preprogrammed to be either a maximizer or a satisficer.   

What now? Every society, every organization, even every family needs both the grasshopper and the ant as well as those who are a bit of both. We should recognize this social need and not try to fit people into the boxes of what we would prefer them to be.