Essays on Precommitment

Abstract

Precommitment is a way for someone to impose certain constraints on or alter various incentives, in order to encourage (or discourage) future behavior. Precommitment primarily is situated in the literature on self-control, and is proposed as a solution to the problems posed by present bias and time-inconsistent preferences. Moreover, despite its demonstrated effectiveness, people in the “real world” tend to overlook precommitment and do not use it as a strategy. Across three chapters, this dissertation makes two main contributions to our understanding of the potential of precommitment. First, it introduces precommitment as a viable solution to an interpersonal dilemma, instead of merely intrapersonal dilemmas. Second, it explores two psychological barriers preventing the widespread adoption of precommitment strategies for self-control problems. Chapter 1 recognizes the reputational consequences of decision-makers who de-escalate commitment to failing courses of action and introduces precommitment as an intervention decision-makers can deploy to de-escalate while maintaining trust. In six pre-registered experiments (N=4,635), I find the effectiveness of precommitment in preserving de-escalators’ trust across various scenarios, samples, and measurements of trust. Chapters 2 and 3 examine precommitment in the context of self-control. In five pre-registered experiments (N=2,280), Chapter 2 demonstrates the negative reputational consequences of using precommitment strategies (vs. willpower) for goal achievement. It further suggests that these reputational costs may serve as one barrier to commitment device uptake. In two field experiments (N=4,459), Chapter 3 illustrates how emphasizing the importance of willpower to achieve one’s goals can crowd out more effective strategies, such as precommitment.