Preference consistency doesn't always mean people have clear trade-off preferences. Choices made in certain contexts can lead to learned habits rather than true preferences. Making choices from sets with more options can result in less stable preferences, while choices from simpler sets help people learn their true preferences. This difference between learned choices and true preferences is important for marketing, as repeat purchases may not always indicate genuine preference. Changing the competitive context can alter consumer preferences, showing that what seems like a preference might just be a learned response to a specific choice situation.