Query Theory¶
A descriptive model in which serial internal questions retrieve reasons, early retrieval interferes with later queries, and task-dependent query order constructs different preferences.
Core Idea¶
Query theory explains preference as an ordered retrieval process. A person asks internal questions generating supporting and opposing aspects, and the task affects which query comes first.
The first query receives greater resources and interferes with later retrieval. Resulting aspect imbalance shapes judgment; reversing query order can change valuations such as the owner–buyer gap.
Scope of Application¶
- Decision research. Tests context-sensitive choice mechanisms.
- Consumer valuation. Models buying and selling gaps.
- Debiasing. Changes query order.
- Preference measurement. Uses listed reasons and order statistics.
Clarity¶
State frame, queries, predicted order, elicitation method, order metric, and outcome. Separate query sequence from experimenter demand. A preference shift alone is insufficient unless the proposed aspect-retrieval sequence also changes in the predicted direction. Inclusion test: Specify a task, competing internal queries, predicted order, retrieved aspects, and how order or interference changes preference. Exclusion test: Exclude external survey order alone, database queries, reason-based choice without serial mechanism, and normative decision rules. Nearest boundary: Reason-based choice says reasons matter; query theory specifically predicts serial questions, interference, and aspect imbalance. Exit condition: It loses identity when preferences are assumed fixed before the task or query order plays no role. Common misclassifications: It is not database query theory. It is not an optimal-choice rule. It is not any claim that reasons matter. It does not make all preferences permanently unstable. Nearest named distinctions: Survey order: Concerns external questions. Information search: Need not use internal serial interference. Loss aversion: Uses asymmetric value. Database query theory: An unrelated technical field.
Manages Complexity¶
The theory links framing to preference through a measurable cognitive sequence and requires aspects and order to mediate the effect.
Abstract Reasoning¶
- Identify opposing reason queries.
- Predict default order.
- Measure aspect sequence.
- Manipulate order.
- Test mediation of judgment.
Knowledge Transfer¶
The serial-query mechanism transfers to other judgments only when opposing reason sets and order are measured, not by analogy alone.
Relationships to Other Abstractions¶
Current abstraction Query Theory Domain-specific
Parents (1) — more general patterns this builds on
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Query Theory presupposes Interference and Contention Prime
Query Theory presupposes Interference and Contention because early internal queries alter or exhaust reasons available to later preference queries.
Hierarchy paths (3) — routes to 2 parentless roots
- Query Theory → Interference and Contention → Constraint
- Query Theory → Interference and Contention → Concurrency
- Query Theory → Interference and Contention → Scarcity → Constraint
Neighborhood in Abstraction Space¶
Query Theory sits in a crowded region of the domain-specific corpus (28th percentile for distinctiveness): several abstractions share nearly its structure, so a description that fits it tends to fit its neighbors too.
Family — Decision & System Modeling Frameworks (30 abstractions)
Nearest neighbors
- Non-Consequential Reasoning — 0.90
- Two-Moment Decision Model — 0.90
- Database Index — 0.89
- Explicature — 0.89
- Recall (Memory) — 0.88
Computed from structural-signature embeddings · 2026-10-08