PhronesisWe introduce and formally characterize chronic solution-jumping as a behaviorally stable wrong attractor in deliberate cognitive work. Under the displacement framework, the ground state S^0 is defined as calibrated deliberate resolution: the mode of engagement in which problem understanding precedes and governs solution generation. Chronic solution-jumping is identified as the wrong attractor W: a basin of premature closure in which agents persistently generate, apply, and discard solutions without achieving adequate problem comprehension.
We define the displacement cost D() as the configurational distance from S^0 at cognitive state, and the cumulative displacement = D()\,dt as the total understanding-debt accrued over an episode. We characterize the fix-first architecture as the mechanism sustaining W, and the understanding-first foreclosure basin as the region of cognitive state space from which return to S^0 requires active, effortful phase transition rather than passive relaxation.
Nine formal propositions (P1–P9) develop the theory, covering attractor stability, cost accumulation, foreclosure basin geometry, phase transition thresholds, and intervention structure. We conclude with implications for individual practice, collaborative systems, and the design of deliberate-resolution protocols. The framework provides a unified account of why solution-jumping is self-reinforcing, why it is costly in the medium term despite apparent short-term efficiency, and how return to calibrated deliberate resolution is achieved and sustained.