Maximizing

A maximizer evaluates an option against the best imaginable alternative, not merely against their needs or their previous position. More searching may uncover a better salary, but it also reveals more attractive possibilities. Once those possibilities become the reference point, the chosen job is judged beside the best job not obtained. The strategy therefore moves two variables in opposite directions: objective reward can rise while subjective wellbeing falls. This is the trap behind Social Comparison: success feels insufficient when the comparison set improves faster than the result.

Maximizing is not simply irrational: in the supplied case, it produced substantially higher salaries. The problem was not the better outcome itself but evaluating it against the best missed alternative. Where the stakes justify an exhaustive search—and the result can be assessed without persistent counterfactual comparison—maximizing may still be worth its cost.