Repeated encounters create emotional bonds in addition to strategic incentives

Evidence

The third point which explains Professor Hirschman’s observation is the fact that bonds develop among people who encounter one another repeatedly. A sharp dealer will not sell a defective piece of merchandise to a previous customer, and this is not necessarily because otherwise the customer would not come again. The point is psychologically deeper. — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 953

Categorization

• XREF: Directly relevant to the reader’s Luhmann analysis: repeat monitoring produces attachment that outruns rational self-interest, the non-strategic residue Hardin’s pure constraint account misses. — connects to: Repeat players resolve disputes outside courts to preserve ongoing relationships — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1115
• QUESTION: Would this bond-formation survive when observability vanishes, as in Saramago’s epidemic? Worth chasing whether the doctor’s wife’s bonds survive when her sightedness is their only basis.