Okay. So here’s an example from my own life.
A few years ago, I had the idea that I wanted to run in this race, this 10-kilometer race, which would be pretty far for me. So I needed to train for it ahead of time, to get in better physical shape so I would be ready to run that far,because at the time I wasn’t really exercising much.
Well, I knew that the only time I had to train was in the mornings, before work, so I would need to get up early and run if I was going to be ready for that race. So the first few days I intended to get up early,but when my alarm went off I didn’t feel like getting up in the morning, and I just roll over and go back to sleep. It definitely seemed like a better idea to sleep longer instead of going running.
So what I ended up doing was, I had this friend who I knew was also interested in doing some running, and I asked him if he would agree to meet me at a certain time each morning to go for a run together. I knew if I made a promise to meet my friend, I would be responsible and get up in the morning.
I wouldn’t just choose to go back to sleep. And it worked. I did get up and go each morning with my friend. I was able to improve my fitness enough thatI eventually ran in the 10-kilometer race and did pretty well.
Explain how the example from the professor’s lecture illustrates the concept of a commitment device.
A commitment device is a plan or an agreement that people make in advance to ensure that, if a conflict occurs, they will continue working toward their long-term goals. For example, a few years ago, the professor was going to run in a 10-kilometer race. In order to run that far, he needed to train himself in advance.So he planned to get up early every morning and run a long distance. But for the first few days, he couldn't get up as planned, and what he did was just to roll over and go back to sleep. In order to solve this problem, he asked his friend who was also interested in running to run with him together. So after that, he would get up early every morning because he knew that he had made a promise to his friend, and he should be more responsible. Finally, he did get up and performed pretty well in the race.
