Pre-commitment mirrors partner-choice by eliminating tempting options in advance
Evidence
Reduction of the range of possible partners in social groups by expulsion of defectors, the target article’s proposed mechanism underlying altruism, has a parallel in self-control – the reduction of choice opportunities by means of pre-commitment; commitment eliminates impulsive acts from an upcoming pattern of acts. Recent experiments on self-control in our laboratory (Locey & Rachlin, in press) show that people will pay to avoid future “tempting” small immediate rewards, thereby committing themselves to, and obtaining, a higher reward rate overall. — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality, 501
Categorization
- XREF: The fumi-e is precisely a forced, externally-imposed pre-commitment: the Japanese authorities destroy the priest’s future options by making apostasy a public, one-time ritual, so Rodrigues cannot later restring his pattern. — connects to: Power relations that pre-select compliant partners reduce information-processing demands; Exit and voice parallel partner-choice versus punishment responses — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality: The…, 213
- ADDENDUM: Extends the ‘partner choice’ mechanism from ‘On Sacrifice’ — institutional restriction of choices functions as a scaffold enforcing sacrificial patterns.