Recent studies have tested the preference axioms of completeness and transitivity, and have detected other preference phenomena such as unstability, learning- and tiredness effects, ordering effects and dominance, in stated preference discrete choice experiments. However, it has not been explicitly addressed in these studies which preference models are actually being tested, and the connection between the statistical tests performed and the relevant underlying models of respondent behavior has not been explored further. This paper tries to fill that gap. We specifically analyze the meaning and role of the preference axioms and other preference phenomena in the context of stated preference discrete choice experiments, and examine whether or how these can be subject to meaningful (statistical) tests