The article by Howard Rachlin and Leonard Green explores the concept of commitment, choice, and self-control through experiments with pigeons. The study focuses on how pigeons respond to choices between immediate and delayed rewards, and how these choices change over time. When faced with a choice between a small immediate reward and a large delayed reward, pigeons initially prefer the immediate reward. However, when the delay between the choice and the reward is increased, the pigeons' preference shifts towards the larger, delayed reward. This reversal of preference is predicted by several recent models of choice behavior. The authors use this phenomenon to illustrate the concept of commitment, which they define as a form of self-control. They provide examples such as payroll savings and the use of a locking cigarette case to illustrate how commitment can be seen as an active process of self-control. The study also examines the effectiveness of different strategies for achieving commitment, such as the matching law proposed by Baum and Rachlin, which predicts that the ratio of the values of two reward alternatives differing in delay and amount is the product of the ratio of amounts and the inverse ratio of delays. The experimental design involves exposing pigeons to various delays and observing their choices. The results show that as the delay between the choice and the reward increases, the pigeons' preference for the larger, delayed reward also increases. The study concludes that commitment can be understood as a process where individuals choose to commit to a particular course of action, which can be seen as a form of self-control. The authors discuss the implications of these findings for understanding self-control in humans and suggest that commitment strategies may operate both overtly and covertly in various contexts.The article by Howard Rachlin and Leonard Green explores the concept of commitment, choice, and self-control through experiments with pigeons. The study focuses on how pigeons respond to choices between immediate and delayed rewards, and how these choices change over time. When faced with a choice between a small immediate reward and a large delayed reward, pigeons initially prefer the immediate reward. However, when the delay between the choice and the reward is increased, the pigeons' preference shifts towards the larger, delayed reward. This reversal of preference is predicted by several recent models of choice behavior. The authors use this phenomenon to illustrate the concept of commitment, which they define as a form of self-control. They provide examples such as payroll savings and the use of a locking cigarette case to illustrate how commitment can be seen as an active process of self-control. The study also examines the effectiveness of different strategies for achieving commitment, such as the matching law proposed by Baum and Rachlin, which predicts that the ratio of the values of two reward alternatives differing in delay and amount is the product of the ratio of amounts and the inverse ratio of delays. The experimental design involves exposing pigeons to various delays and observing their choices. The results show that as the delay between the choice and the reward increases, the pigeons' preference for the larger, delayed reward also increases. The study concludes that commitment can be understood as a process where individuals choose to commit to a particular course of action, which can be seen as a form of self-control. The authors discuss the implications of these findings for understanding self-control in humans and suggest that commitment strategies may operate both overtly and covertly in various contexts.