Reasoning with conditional ceteris paribus preference statements

Abstract

In many domains it is desirable to assess the preferences of users in a qualitative rather than quantitative way. Such representations of qualitative preference orderings form an important component of automated decision tools. We propose a graphical representation of preferences that reflects conditional dependence and independence of preference statements under a ceteris paribus (all else being equal) interpretation. Such a representation is often compact and arguably natural. We describe several search algorithms for dominance testing based on this representation; these algorithms are quite effective, especially in specific network topologies, such as chain- and treestructured networks, as well as polytrees. 1 Introduction Preference elicitation is an important aspect of automated decision making. In many applicationdomains, the space of possible actions or decisions available to someone is fixed, with well-understood dynamics; the only variable component in the decision making pr...