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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 30, 2026

Online Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation of Dorsomedial and Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex in Cognition Decision Making, and Cognitive Dissonance

Online Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation of Dorsomedial and Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex in Cognition Decision Making, and Cognitive Dissonance

Published on: December 5, 2025

Is choice-induced preference change long lasting?

Tali Sharot¹, Stephen M Fleming^2,3, Xiaoyu Yu⁴

¹Department of Cognitive, Perceptual and Brain Sciences, University College London.

Psychological Science

|August 31, 2012

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Decisions can permanently change your preferences. Research shows that choices lead to lasting shifts in what you like, not just temporary feelings immediately after deciding.

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Area of Science:

Psychology
Decision Science

Background:

The concept that decisions influence preferences is central to psychology.
Cognitive dissonance theory is a key example of this idea.
However, the long-term stability of choice-induced preference changes remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether changes in preferences following a decision are transient or enduring.
To determine if making a choice leads to stable shifts in personal preferences over time.

Main Methods:

Participants rated vacation destinations.
Hypothetical choices were made between destinations.
Preference ratings were collected immediately after choices and again 2.5 to 3 years later.

Main Results:

Choice-induced preference changes were observed both immediately after decisions and after a significant delay.
These preference shifts were not explained by pre-existing preferences.
Changes occurred only when participants made the choices themselves.

Conclusions:

Making a decision can result in enduring changes to preferences.
Choice-induced preference modification is a stable psychological phenomenon.
Self-initiated decisions are key drivers of lasting preference alteration.