satisfice

English

WOTD – 25 February 2016

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsætɪsfaɪs/

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Etymology 1

1560, Northern alteration of satisfy, probably influenced in form by Latin satisfacere.

Verb

satisfice (third-person singular simple present satisfices, present participle satisficing, simple past and past participle satisficed)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To satisfy.

Etymology 2

Blend of satisfy +‎ suffice, coined by American political scientist and psychologist Herbert A. Simon in 1956.

Verb

satisfice (third-person singular simple present satisfices, present participle satisficing, simple past and past participle satisficed)

1. (sociology, intransitive) 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.
   • 1956, H[erbert] A. Simon, “Rational Choice and the Structure of the Environment”, in Psychological Review, volume 63, number 2, page 129:

     Evidently, organisms adapt well enough to ‘satisfice’; they do not, in general, ‘optimize’.

   • 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^[1], archived from the original on 16 December 2015:

     [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.

See also

• satisficer

References

• “satisfice”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “satisfice” at The Phrontistery – A Dictionary of Obscure Words.
• Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.

Spanish

Verb

satisfice

1. first-person singular preterite indicative of satisfacer