Prominent positioning of threats raises their perceived probability and triggers preemptive retaliation

Evidence

From Ross et al.’s (1977) results one would infer that this prominence leads each to increase the subjective probability of the threat being implemented. This is turn could lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy as each attempts to get his retaliation in first. — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 694

Categorization

• XREF: Self-fulfilling prophecy from observable threat — directly parallels Saramago’s blindness collapse where visible potential threat drives preemptive predation.
• QUESTION: Does gate prominence in the Trucking Game map to Hardin’s observable constraints as a two-edged sword producing preemptive defection rather than trust?