Android - Difference between various methods to get a Context

In various bits of Android code I've seen:

 public class MyActivity extends Activity { 
    public void method() { 
       mContext = this;    // since Activity extends Context 
       mContext = getApplicationContext(); 
       mContext = getBaseContext(); 
    } 
 } 

However I can't find any decent explanation of which is preferable, and under what circumstances which should be used.

Pointers to documentation on this, and guidance about what might break if the wrong one is chosen, would be much appreciated.

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