Brian Zikmund-Fisher and Laura Scherer in The Conversation

A new piece by Brian Zikmund-Fisher and former CBSSM post-doc, Laura Scherer is out in the Conversation, "Maximizers vs. minimizers: The personality trait that may guide your medical decisions – and costs." They developed and validated a 10-item questionnaire that assesses a person’s maximizing or minimizing tendencies on a scale, from one (strong minimizing) to seven (strong maximizing). Across four studies, they found this difference predicts health care use across a range of medical interventions and health problems, from cancer screening preferences to vaccination. They hope that identifying variations in maximizing or minimizing tendencies may be useful in trying to address both overuse and underuse in health care.