satisfice
verbEtymology Blend of satisfy + suffice, coined by American political scientist and psychologist Herbert A. Simon in 1956.
1
Human sciences, Sciences, Social science, Sociology Of human behavior: to make a choice that suffices to fulfill the minimum requirements to achieve an objective, without special regard for utility maximization or optimization of one's preferences.
- Evidently, organisms adapt well enough to ‘satisfice’; they do not, in general, ‘optimize’.1956, H[erbert] A. Simon, “Rational Choice and the Structure of the Environment”, in Psychological Review, volume 63, number 2, page 129:
- [T]here are two contrasting types of decision-making mentalities, maximizing and satisficing. If you're choosing a marriage partner, you probably want to maximize. You want to find the very best person you are totally in love with. […] But politics is not like that. Politics is a prosaic activity most of the time. You probably want to satisfice, pick the person who's good enough, who seems reasonably responsible.2015 December 4, David Brooks, “No, Donald Trump won't win [print version: International New York Times, 5–6 December 2015, page 9]”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 16 Dec 2015:
- Derived terms
- satisficer