A study says choosing the same option can change how much you like it: Is repetition shaping your favourites?

You open a restaurant menu and promise yourself something different. A new dish catches your eye. The waiter arrives, and you order the same meal as last time. You like it, of course. But how much of that liking comes from the meal itself? Could choosing it repeatedly help make it your favourite?

Research from TU Dresden suggests that past choices can influence later preferences. Frequently chosen options were not only selected again. People also rated them more positively.

Your usual order offers an everyday way to understand the finding. The researchers tested controlled decision tasks, rather than restaurant meals.

What the TU Dresden study found about repeated choices

Ben Wagner and colleagues examined nine newly collected datasets. They also reanalysed six earlier datasets. Together, the research involved roughly 700 participants.

People first learned about options through rewards. Later, those options appeared in different combinations. The researchers examined how earlier choices influenced decisions in the new setting.

Repeated choices were associated with stronger later preferences. Participants also placed higher subjective value on frequently chosen options.

“Subjective value” means how good an option seems to you. It can differ from the rewards the option actually provides. The study appeared in Communications Psychology on November 26, 2025. ScienceDaily covered it in August 2026.

Why choosing something can help it feel better

Imagine two options that offer the same chance of winning money. One has often been your choice in an earlier setting. When the options are compared, that history may give your familiar choice an advantage. The researchers describe an “action repetition bias”. Earlier actions can influence what gets selected next.

Their computer model combined learning from rewards with a tendency to repeat choices. The combination explained patterns across the datasets better than the competing models they tested.

Return to the menu. A dish may become your regular order after several enjoyable lunches. Later, remembering your previous choice may help guide another order.

The Dresden findings suggest repeated choices can stay appealing even when equal or better alternatives appear. Taste and quality remain important as well.

Mere exposure explains another route to familiarity

Psychologist Robert Zajonc studied a related phenomenon called the “mere exposure effect”. Repeated encounters can make something seem more appealing.

In his 1968 research, participants saw unfamiliar symbols at different frequencies. Symbols shown more often generally received more positive ratings.

Nobody needed to discover a useful benefit in the symbol. Seeing it repeatedly was enough to influence its evaluation.

A brand you regularly notice on a shelf offers an everyday illustration. Familiarity may contribute to how you feel about it. However, exposure and action repetition are different ideas. Seeing a packet often is exposure. Choosing it repeatedly adds a history of action.

Zajonc's work provides useful background. It does not establish that mere exposure caused the Dresden results.

Habit psychology explains why the setting matters

Psychologists Wendy Wood and David Neal offer another helpful account. Their habit theory describes how repeated actions become linked to cues in the setting.

A cue is something that prompts a familiar response. Walking into your usual café could be one. Seeing the counter could bring your regular order to mind.

After enough repetition in a stable setting, the cue can trigger the response without a fresh decision about the goal.Sitting in the same classroom seat offers a similar illustration. You may head there before considering another spot.

Habit theory helps explain automatic repetition. The Dresden research adds a question about valuation: repeated choices can also be associated with judging an option more favourably.

The accounts are related, but they should not be treated as interchangeable explanations.

How to notice when repetition guides your choice

Next time you open the menu, pause before placing your usual order. Compare it with one alternative using what matters to you today. Perhaps the familiar meal still wins. A repeated choice can be sensible and satisfying.

The useful question is whether you have compared the available options or simply followed yesterday's decision.

Such a pause is a practical suggestion, not an intervention proven by the Dresden study. You do not need to abandon favourites to become more aware of how you choose.

FAQs

Can repeated choices change what people prefer?

The study found that frequently chosen options attracted stronger preferences and more positive ratings.

Does choosing the same meal mean making a bad decision?

No. Your favourite may still suit you best.