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158:, a general in Ancient China, who positioned his soldiers with their backs to a river, making it impossible for them to flee, thereby leaving them no choice but to attack the enemy head-on. They also present various commitment devices related to weight loss. In addition, some game theorists have argued that human emotions and sense of honor are forms of commitment device. Other examples include announcing commitments publicly and
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92:' song without jumping overboard. Economist Jodi Beggs writes "Commitment devices are a way to overcome the discrepancy between an individual's short-term and long-term preferences; in other words, they are a way for self-aware people to modify their incentives or set of possible choices in order to overcome impatience or other irrational behavior. You know the story of
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It can be challenging to promote uptake of commitment devices. In the field of health, for example, commitment devices have the potential to increase patient adherence to their health goals, but utilization of these techniques is low. Health professionals can potentially increase patient uptake of
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Behavioral economist Daniel
Goldstein describes how commitment devices established in "cold states" help and protect themselves against impulsive decisions in later, emotional, stimulated, "hot states". Goldstein says that, despite their usefulness, commitment devices nevertheless have drawbacks.
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in the agent. If the agent enters a situation where the device does not incentivize commitment, the agent may not have enough will power or ability to control themselves. (Goldstein uses the example of a cake falling into the grey area of a diet, so it is eaten excessively.) Second, commitment
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Commitment devices have two major features. They are voluntarily adopted for use and they tie consequences to follow-through failures. Consequences can be immutable (irreversible, such as a monetary consequence) or mutable (allows for the possibility of future reversal of the consequence).
43:, a way to lock oneself into following a plan of action that one might not want to do, but which one knows is good for oneself. In other words, a commitment device is a way to give oneself a reward or punishment to make what might otherwise become an empty promise stronger and believable.
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Goldstein says "In effect you are like
Odysseus and the first mate in one person. You're binding yourself, and then you're weaseling your way out of it, and then you're beating yourself up for it afterwards."
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tying himself to the mast so that he couldn't be lured in by the song of the Sirens? You can think of that as the quintessential commitment device".
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purportedly created a commitment device for his soldiers: he placed them with their backs to a river to make sure they would fight.
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commitment devices by increasing their accessibility, making policies opt-out, and leveraging patients’ social networks.
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Namely, they still rely on some self-control. Goldstein says that, for one, a commitment device can promote
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A soldier receives a Medal of Honor. Game theorists suggest that human cultural constructs like
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devices can usually be reversed. (An unplugged distracting electronic can be plugged back in.)
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Make a bet or monetary contract with someone to increase the benefit of keeping one's promise.
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A commitment device is a technique where someone makes it easier for themselves to avoid
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372:"Put Your Money Where Your Butt Is: A Commitment Contract For Smoking Cessation"
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Examples of commitment devices abound. Dubner and Levitt give the example of
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A common example comes from mythology: Odysseus' plan to survive hearing the
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Create larger obstacles to temptations to increase the costs of temptations.
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successfully employed a commitment device to complete the screenplay for
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Make one's commitment public, so one's reputation may be affected.
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Dubner and Levitt, Stephen J. and Steven D. (November 18, 2007).
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465:"Alice Wu's the Half of It is a Thoroughly Modern Queer Romance"
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204:, a website that enables people to make "commitment contracts"
541:"Commitment Devices under Self-Control Problems: An Overview"
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The term "commitment device" is used in both economics and
489:"Evolution of cooperation: Emotion as a commitment device"
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Dubner, Stephen J.; Levitt, Steven D. (18 November 2007).
277:"Commitment Devices: Using Initiatives to Change Behavior"
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Brocas, Isabelle; Juan D. Carrillo; Mathias
Dewatripont.
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617:, a platform that helps people stay committed to goals
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lashed to the mast by his first mate. Depicted by the
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Giné, Xavier; Karlan, Dean; Zinman, Jonathan (2009).
50:(acting against one's better judgment), particularly
247:"How To Do What You Want: Akrasia and Self-Binding"
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351:The battle between your present and future self
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493:Evolutionary Theory across the Life Sciences
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376:American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
528:"Be Careful With Those Commitment Devices…"
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558:Ross, Don; Dumouchel, Paul (August 2004).
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245:Reeves, Daniel (November 15, 2010).
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173:. Wu wrote a $ 1000 check to the
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560:"Emotions as Strategic Signals"
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421:"The Stomach-Surgery Conundrum"
228:"The Stomach-Surgery Conundrum"
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526:Beggs, Jodi (June 17, 2009).
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271:Rogers, T.; Milkman, K. L.;
160:mutually assured destruction
35:is, according to journalist
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382:(4). World Bank: 213–235.
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442:Ross & Dumouchel 2004
23:Chinese military general
576:10.1177/1043463104044678
564:Rationality and Society
595:Straker, Dave (2011).
487:Arslan, Ruben (2011).
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631:Behavioral economics
597:"Commitment Devices"
102:learned helplessness
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192:Positive psychology
509:Carrots and Sticks
425:The New York Times
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518:978-0-553-80763-9
290:(20): 2065–2066.
37:Stephen J. Dubner
33:commitment device
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586:. Archived from
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601:Changing Minds
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590:on 2014-08-27.
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505:Ayres, Ian
397:10986/4177
357:2020-05-06
331:Beggs 2009
214:References
165:Filmmaker
129:Challenges
615:Nudgewise
584:145646865
507:(2010).
406:73160456
317:Brocas,
304:24777472
275:(2014).
181:See also
167:Alice Wu
71:Odysseus
62:Overview
156:Han Xin
113:Methods
94:Ulysses
48:akrasia
25:Han Xin
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319:et al.
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202:StickK
90:sirens
580:S2CID
551:(PDF)
544:(PDF)
402:S2CID
280:(PDF)
148:honor
513:ISBN
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300:PMID
284:JAMA
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