Context-Dependent Preference¶
Core Idea¶
Context-dependent preference occurs when the focal options remain unchanged but their ordering changes after an unchosen comparator, menu composition, presentation, or evaluation procedure changes. Value is constructed relative to the choice context rather than residing as a fixed context-free property of each option. A stable focal pair, at least two contexts, a contextual element that need not be chosen, and a preference reversal or systematic value change are required. The comparison must hold outcomes substantially fixed so altered information about the options is not mistaken for context.
Broad Use¶
Consumer choice, animal foraging, voting, interface design, and algorithmic ranking exhibit the same relational failure of context independence. The abstraction can be stated formally beyond human psychology.
Clarity¶
Reference-point dependence evaluates change from a baseline. Framing changes presentation or interpretation. Context effects specifically show that menu or comparator structure changes preference among fixed focal options. Genuine preference learning changes the agent's information or goals.
Manages Complexity¶
The abstraction turns scattered cases into one role-based test: identify the required elements, test their relation, and reject the classification when a constitutive commitment is missing.
Abstract Reasoning¶
Use the structural signature rather than the label, then challenge the nearest counterexample. Preferring a product after learning it has a lower defect rate is evidence-responsive updating, not context-dependent preference.
Knowledge Transfer¶
Consumer choice, animal foraging, voting, interface design, and algorithmic ranking exhibit the same relational failure of context independence. The abstraction can be stated formally beyond human psychology.
Example¶
A case qualifies only when the definition and every load-bearing role remain present. Preferring a product after learning it has a lower defect rate is evidence-responsive updating, not context-dependent preference.
Relationships to Other Abstractions¶
Current abstraction Context-Dependent Preference Prime
Parents (1) — more general patterns this builds on
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Context-Dependent Preference is a kind of Preference Prime
Context-Dependent Preference is Preference specialized to an ordering whose value relation is indexed by a comparison menu or evaluation procedure.
Children (2) — more specific cases that build on this
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Decoy Effect Domain-specific is a kind of Context-Dependent Preference
Decoy Effect is the asymmetric-dominance menu species in which an unchosen inferior alternative shifts preference between two unchanged focal options.
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Joint vs. Separate Evaluation Prime is a kind of Context-Dependent Preference
Joint versus Separate Evaluation is the evaluation-procedure species in which simultaneous comparison changes attribute evaluability and can reverse judgments.
Hierarchy path (1) — routes to 1 parentless root
- Context-Dependent Preference → Preference
Not to Be Confused With¶
Reference-point dependence evaluates change from a baseline. Framing changes presentation or interpretation. Context effects specifically show that menu or comparator structure changes preference among fixed focal options. Genuine preference learning changes the agent's information or goals.
Notes¶
(Canonical first draft; queued for Claude house-style re-authoring and citation review.)