The Final Trap: Akrasia or Weakness of Will
•
Akrasia, incontinence, or weakness of
the will occurs when someone consciously or deliberately makes a choice that
s/he sincerely believes is wrong.
•
The problem, Newsweek
declares, is not that we lack
ethical standards or are incapable of distinguishing wrong from right. The
challenge rather lies in helping people act on the virtues they espouse.
“Even in today’s complex world, knowing what’s right is
comparatively easy,” Newsweek concludes. “It’s doing what’s right that’s hard.”
Ulysses and the Sirens
• "'So far so good,'
said Circe, 'and now pay attention to what I am about to tell you. First you will come to the Sirens who
enchant all who come near them. If any one unwarily draws in too close and
hears the singing of the Sirens, they will warble him to death with the
sweetness of their song. There is a great heap of dead men's bones lying all
around, with the flesh still rotting off them.
• Therefore pass these Sirens by, and stop
your men's ears with wax that none
of them may hear; but if you like you can listen yourself, for you may get the men to bind you as you stand
upright on a cross piece half way up the mast, that you may have the pleasure
of listening. If you beg and pray the men to unloose you, then they must bind
you faster.’”
• For artists’
depictions see:
http://www.artmagick.com/paintings/painting1654.asp
Ulysses’ Solution:
Self-Binding or Precommitment
• The Sirens began with
their singing. 'Come here,' they sang, 'renowned Ulysses, and listen to our
voices. No one ever sailed past us without staying to hear the enchanting
sweetness of our song--and he who listens will go on his way not only charmed
but wiser, for we know all the ills that the gods laid upon the Argives and
Trojans before Troy, and can tell you everything that is going to happen over
the whole world.'
• They sang these words
most musically, and as I longed to hear them further I made signs by frowning
to my men that they should set me free; but they quickened their stroke, and
Eurylochus and Perimedes bound me with still stronger bonds till we had got out
of hearing of the Sirens' voices. Then my men took the wax from their ears and
unbound me.
Factors Contributing to Akrasia
• Passion,
emotions like anger
• Addiction
• Inability
to delay gratification, impatience, impulsiveness
• Inability
to visualize long term goals
• Uncertainty
about what your values will be in the future
• Deterioration
Traps
• Pride,
revenge
Example of the Role of Pride: The Ultimatum Game
•
The experimenter gives
Player A $10 who must make an offer to Player B of the following form:
•
A says: “You can
have $X and I will keep the rest ($10 - X). If you refuse my offer, neither of us will get anything and the
experimenter will take back the money.”
•
What should B do
according to RCT?
•
What would you do?
•
Suppose the two subjects
can talk and the experiment is repeated?
What Happens
•
Most people in the
Player B position demand at least $3 or they will let the money go back to the
experimenter.
•
We can see that the more
hard-nosed (proud, envious,
whatever) that B is, the more apt
they are to be able to effect an even split in future transactions.
•
Some have argued that
envy, etc. could have survival value.
How Much Would You Pay for a Dollar?
• A
dollar is auctioned off to the highest bidder, according to the following
rules.
• No communication is allowed.
• Bids
can be made only in multiples of 5 cents.
• Bids
must not exceed $50.
• The
two highest bidders both have to pay
what they bid,even though the dollar goes only to the highest bidder.
The Points of No Return
•
The first one comes when
the two highest bids together exceed $1.00, thus assuring the auctioneer a
profit.At this point the auction still seems attractive to the individual
bidder who may hope to get a dollar for 55 cents.
•
The second interesting
point is when the first bid goes above $1.00. Suppose you have bid 95 cents. If
you quit bidding, you lose 95
cents but if you could get the bid at $1.05 you would only lose a nickel.
•
As the bidding
continues, subjects report being
motivated by saving face, punishing
the other, etc.
One Remedy for Akrasia: Get Others to “Tie Us Up”
• Ulysses’
response requires us to get some outside force to take the place of our missing
will power:
– Christmas savings
plans (with penalties for early withdrawals)
– Ask your dentist
to charge you triple for any missed appointments
– Give your
household money to a friend before you go to the casino (or crack house) with
strict orders not to give it back no matter what you say
Instability of the “brother’s keeper” method
From
Thomas de Quincey’s Confessions of an Opium Eater:
•
Coleridge went so far as
to hire men (porters,etc.) to oppose by force his entrance into any
druggist’s shop.But as the
authority for stopping him derived simply from himself, naturally these poor men found
themselves in a metaphysical fix, not provided for even by
Thomas Acquinas…
•
Porter: “ Ay, but
you tell’t me not to harken…”
•
C: “Oh nonsense.An
emergency has arisen. No matter what I told you in times past what I tell you now is - that if you don’t remove that arm of yours
from the doorway of this most respectable druggist, I shall have a good ground
against you for assault and battery.”
Imposing Additional Costs
•
In a cocaine addiction
center in Denver, patients are offered an opportunity to submit to extortion.
They write a self-incriminating letter, deposit the letter with the clinic, and
sign up a randomized schedule of drug tests. It the laboratory finds evidence
of continued use, the clinic sends off the letter.
•
An example is a
physician who addresses a letter to the State board of Medical Examiners
confessing that he has administered cocaine to himself…
•
If the strategy fails
the patient ends up still with the addiction and also out of a job, medical license, etc.
Creating Rewards
• Some
companies offer bonuses to employees who stop smoking.
• (Using
prospect theory, which of the latter two remedies would we expect to be more
effective?)
• When
the Argonauts sailed by the
Sirens, Orpheus sang so divinely that everyone listened to him instead.
Setting up Binding Legal Agreements
•
Spinoza : “Even
kings have followed the example of Ulysses; they usually instruct their judges
to have no respect for persons in administering justice, not even the king
himself… For kings are not gods, but men, who are often enchanted by the
Siren’s song. Accordingly, if everything depended on the inconstant will
of one man,nothing would be stable.”
•
Students of the history
of constitutional law say: “Constitutions are chains with which men bind
themselves in their sane moments that they may not die by a suicidal hand in
the day of their frenzy.”
Legal Constraints, Continued
• In a
more recent statement Cass Sunstein writes: “Constitutional precommitment
strategies might serve to overcome myopia or weakness of will on the part of
the collectivity.”
• Or
more simply: “A constitution is a tie imposed by Peter when sober on
Peter when drunk.”
• To
what extent do marriage laws serve the same function?