first two pages draft

Kristen Ott

Professor Thomas

Composition: literary summary and analysis

5 October, 2012

Chapter two

            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 by Ori Brafman and Rom Brafman talks about the irresistible pull of irrational behavior. In chapter two, the swamp of commitment, the authors focus on the sway commitment and also commitment combined with the first sway, 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.(Ori and Rom Brafman page 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 a connection of all the examples.

            The purpose of this chapter is to show the reader and help you understand how the sway commitment works and the impact it has on your thinking process. In chapter two the author does a great job of showing you different 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 how backing up this sway. This example is easy to understand and clearly shows a way commitment 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.