The phrase "adaptive preference" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used in discussions about decision-making, psychology, or economics, particularly when referring to preferences that change based on circumstances or constraints.
Example: "Her adaptive preference for a simpler lifestyle emerged after years of living in a fast-paced city."
Alternatives: "flexible preference" or "adjusted preference".
Or are we capable of "successful adaptive preference formation," otherwise known as change?
Bruckner argues that both adaptive preference change and adaptive preference formation are often rational.
Discussions of adaptive preference formation are often found in the literature both feminist and nonfeminist on rational choice theory (Elster 1983; Superson 2005; Cudd 2006).
Thus while one condition for the rationality of an adaptive preference for Elster is that it be autonomously acquired, for Bruckner, it is that the preference be autonomously retained (319).
According to Jon Elster's classic description of adaptive preference formation, a fox, after finding that he can no longer reach some grapes, decides that he does not want the grapes after all.
If the agent reflectively endorses her adaptive preference in a way that is responsive to her feasible set, and not simply her false beliefs about her feasible set, even though she limits her potential and lowers her sights, it is rational for her to retain this preference (319 320).
Khader also wants to separate "inappropriately adaptive preferences," which are harmful to their bearers and adapted to bad social conditions, from merely adaptive preferences, which may not have these features (52 53).
People are prone to what philosophers call "adaptive preferences", meaning that they may fail to report their "true" happiness.
First of all, there are all kinds of "adaptive preferences", in which people reinterpret bad situations to make them more bearable: "sour grapes" – deciding that what you could not get is actually not as good as you had thought – is a classic example.
However, reactions to adaptive preferences vary in the feminist literature on autonomy.
This "biophilia" may reflect evolved adaptive preferences, preferences that may continue to affect our behavior today.
