The effectiveness of revocable precommitment strategies in reducing decision-making impulsivity.

Abstract

Precommitment shows promise in reducing decision-making impulsivity; however, it may be invalidated, leading to self-control failures. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the effectiveness of revocable precommitment in promoting commitment and reducing decision-making impulsivity through two studies. Experiment 1 used event-related potentials to explore whether revocable precommitment was beneficial to make individuals more inclined to commit. Experiment 2 explored the effectiveness of revocable precommitment in reducing decision-making impulsivity. The results showed that (i) compared with the precommitment condition, there is a higher proportion of precommitment selection under the revocable precommitment condition. Besides, in short delay time condition, the proportion of individuals choosing precommitment is higher than that of the other two conditions. Additionally, the average amplitudes of N1 and P300 in the revocable precommitment condition are significantly lower than those in the precommitment condition. (ii) There is a higher proportion of choosing larger-later (LL) options in the revocable precommitment condition compared with the other conditions. Moreover, the proportion of choosing LL options in short-term conditions is higher than that in medium-term conditions, which is higher than that in long-term conditions. Our findings indicated the efficiency of revocable precommitment in reducing decision-making impulsivity.