ABSTRACT
In analytic feminist theory, adaptive preferences explain how individuals, particularly women, come to endorse preferences shaped by oppressive social contexts, thereby reinforcing, through their preferences, their own subordination. While rooted in feminist accounts of gendered oppression, the concept applies more broadly to subordinated social groups. This chapter adopts this more general perspective, and examines adaptive preference formation through the lens of extended cognition, particularly in the version that takes cognitive enculturation seriously. I show how this perspective complements current views on the cognitive dimensions of adaptive preferences, and how it offers insight into key challenges within adaptive preference intervention design.
