Abstract: Consumer context effect based on choice set has undermined the traditional theory on rational choice, which manifests that the context has systematic effects on the consumers’ preferences and choice. This paper first introduces the concepts and types of context effect (attractive effect and compromise effect), and then explores such internal mechanism of context effect as perceived bias, avoidance of risk and negative emotions, and information reasoning. Meanwhile, it touches on the impacts of such factors as the structure and characteristics of choice set and consumer on context effect and the influence of context effect on the construction of consumers’ preferences. Finally, the paper points out that the future research on context effect will focus on such aspects as the combination of complex property, complex purchase situations and the discovery of new context effect.

Key words: context effect, preference, choice set