final draft

Is being Committed always a positive

            Have you ever wondered what goes on in your head when you make those decision that later make you say, “Why did I act so stupidly?” The book Sway the Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior by Ori Brafman and Rom Brafman talks about several different sways that take part in your everyday life. In chapter two the authors focus on the sway of commitment combined with loss aversion. Throughout the chapter they list examples in which commitment acts on people and their decision making. “Loss aversion, on its own, is strong but when it converges with commitment the force becomes an even more powerful influence in shaping our thinking and decision making.”(39) Things like putting all your effort into a doomed relationship, and betting over 100 dollars for a twenty dollar bill are irrational decisions. Being committed to the situation makes you react in a different way based on the fear of altering what you are used to. In chapter two, The Swamp of Commitment, the authors explain the sway and their view with great impact through strong examples, powerful language, and linear structure.

            The purpose of this chapter is to show the reader and help you understand that commitment is not always a positive thing. In chapter two the author does a great job of showing you detailed and relevant examples of how commitment can affect you. In the book one of the first examples is about Steve Spurrier and the University of Florida’s football team. Rom and Ori go on to tell you that Steve made the gators successful by doing what the other coaches were too afraid to do, getting rid of the old “war of attrition” strategy and introducing a new “fun and gun” strategy. The gators beat many powerhouses all because there coaches were too committed to their way of playing the game rather than steering away from that and playing more aggressively. This example does a wonderful job backing up this sway. It is relevant and presents an interesting story that most people want to read about. This example is easy to understand and clearly shows a way commitment and loss aversion affects your average everyday person.

            They provide many examples in this chapter but the best one to back up their position on commitment is the last example with Lyndon B. Johnson. LBJ had goals to form The Great Society and to stop the spread of communism in Southeast Asia. These goals brought Johnson to the Vietnam War. Just a few years later Johnson was deep into the war and was realizing there was no way out. LBJ, being too committed to his intensions, would no back out. Instead of accepting defeat and trying to build his presidency back up he kept on fighting in what was clearly a lost cause. LBJs example is great for the reader. This example shows that commitment can happen to even the highest ranked people and there’s no way out once you’ve already committed so far. This example is also great because it is relatable to today’s society. Johnson’s situation can be applied in politics today. Obama is so committed to getting the deficit down and fixing our debt when in actuality he is making the debt almost three times worse. Instead of realizing what he’s doing isn’t working he is too committed and won’t stop and fix larger problems that he has now created. Just like commitment affected Lyndon B. Johnson at large, Obama is not only on the road to ruining his goals but most likely his presidency also because of his commitment to ill-fated hopes.

            The author uses strong language to heighten the reader’s belief in the sway of commitment. Using vivid words can aid the reader in following the text and getting a better feel for what is taking place in the story. Throughout the chapter words such as “victim,” (29) “locked in,” (31) “digging a deeper hole,” (35) and “window of opportunities” (28) evoke emotion in the reader. When the author refers to someone becoming a victim of commitment the reader connects that word to a strong emotion and involves them in the dreadfulness of the situation. On the other hand reading words like window of opportunities taps into the reader’s optimistic side and make the reader want to know more. The authors use this to their advantage because using words that are powerful bring out the emotion in the reader and cause them to be more connected to the text and more believing of the sway. While the loaded language creates the mood of the text, the format of the chapter adds to the all-around effectiveness.

            Chapter two gives many different examples that appeal to everyone. I believe the linear structure of this chapter makes the examples stronger. Throughout the chapter the authors connect all the examples to each other. Doing this makes all the stories linger in your mind and shows that commitment acts in the same way in most situations. For example, early in the chapter they talk about college students bidding on a twenty dollar bill. In this example Rom and Ori talk about the stages you go through until you’re too far into the bidding that you realize you’re committed. Later in the chapter the example about LBJ is connected to the bidding story. They use the example of the “12 to 16 dollar stage” where you abandon the possibility of retreat. Setting it up so the examples add onto each other makes the text more believable. The structure of the chapter influences the way you look at the examples and the way they impact your thought on the author’s views. The authors start off with the football game example and ended it with the LBJ war story to show sway not only acts in a game scenario but also in real life situations where people’s lives are on the line. Using the linear structure to build each example off of each other gives the reader concrete evidence of how sway acts upon you.

In my opinion the authors put this text together well and get their point across. Chapter two is very organized and every aspect of it flows together and gives well thought out evidence to support their theory on the sway of commitment. They take you through several examples, whether it’s a short example or a detailed one, they paint the picture in your head and take you step by step of what happens to cause you to act in irrational ways when making choices. The language they use throughout the chapter adds emotion and gets you more invested in the text. The impact of this text is greatly influenced by the linear structure of all the examples. All three of these components support the author’s ideas on the sway of commitment and proves to the reader it has an effect on many peoples thought process. The Swamp of Commitment is very effective in taking the reader through different types of situations where commitment takes part in making choices and shows the reader it can act on anyone at any given time. It is important to be aware of how loss aversion and commitment can act together and set you on the path of irrational decisions because knowing about the sways can narrow your chances of being strongly effected every time. Chapter two proves to the reader that commitment is not always looked at in a positive light and can be a downfall when it becomes a negative force.