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The feeling of preference: Metacognitive experiences promoting preference expression

A. Sela,Itamar Simonson

Published 2025 in Consumer Psychology Review

ABSTRACT

Building on a review of pertinent literature, we draw attention to preference‐expressive choice — decisions that appear to reveal a well‐established individual preference — and propose that such choices can be shaped by a distinct epistemic metacognitive state: the feeling of preference (FOP). FOP is the perception that one has, or should be able to form, a preference in a given domain, even before encountering specific options and without retrievable prior preferences. Building on research in metacognition, preference fluency, and preference expression, we theorize likely antecedents and consequences of FOP and test its viability in the context of the compromise effect, where having a preference often entails “picking a side” rather than choosing the middle option. Across multiple studies, FOP — situationally triggered by preference‐related cues — reduced compromising and increased preference‐expressive choice, independent of preference retrieval, certainty, or social desirability. Identifying FOP as a distinct driver of choice integrates and extends existing theory on metacognition and decision‐making, and highlights it as a promising, underexplored piece of the puzzle in understanding when, why, and how people feel ready to make bold and self‐expressive choices.

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