“Precommitment involves taking steps now to prevent our future self from gaining access to temptations”

What’s your background?
I’m a neuroscientist based at University College London (UCL) and Oxford University, with a particular interest in the field of decision-making, especially where that involves some sort of dilemma or trade-off. That could be to do with self-control – short- versus long-term self-interest – or social decision-making, where you’re weighing up your own interests against those of other people.

As part of that, I’m interested in the concept of precommitment as a tool to help enforce the decisions we make.

What is precommitment?
Most of us struggle with self-control, whether it’s over-eating, drinking too much, over-spending. We’ll often say we’re going to start exercising more often, eating more healthily, spending more wisely, working more effectively… but when the time comes we always find an excuse to back out of our plans.

So how can we achieve today the goals we set for ourselves yesterday?
Willpower is one weapon at our disposal, but this isn’t bulletproof – it can falter when we’re tired or stressed and can be worn down over time.

Step forward precommitment, which involves taking steps now to protect our future self from temptation. Used well, it will mean we never need to resort to willpower. For example, if I have a writing deadline, I find an internet-free zone so I can’t be distracted by email and Twitter. If I know I’ll eat any chocolate in my house within 24 hours of bringing it home, I simply don’t buy it in the first place. It’s about curating our surroundings to stop temptation derailing our long-term goals.

Has precommitment been scientifically proven to work?
Yes. My colleagues and I set out to directly compare the effectiveness of willpower and precommitment, placing them side-by-side in a series of experiments.

We presented volunteers with a choice: a small reward immediately, or a larger reward after a delay. In the willpower test, the volunteers had to use willpower to resist choosing the small reward while they waited for the larger one. In the precommitment test, they had the option to ‘precommit’ to the larger reward, removing the option to choose the inferior small reward while they waited.

Precommitment proved to be the winning strategy. Analysing people’s brain scans, we found that simply giving them the chance to precommit activated the brain’s reward network – and the good news is that this was particularly evident among those with the worst willpower.

How might precommitment work in the fitness sector?
By encouraging members to stick with their good intentions and regularly attend the gym, precommitment could just be the answer to the fitness sector’s age-old retention battle.

In the area of fitness, it’s about establishing a habit. When you first start to exercise, it’s an intentional behaviour that requires high levels of cognitive energy – you have to invest brainpower to make it happen. However, if you do it enough times, it becomes a habit and doesn’t require the same levels of cognitive investment.

So how can precommitment help get people to the gym regularly enough to form a habit?
From an operator perspective, using different pricing schemes can work. Experiments in the US have shown that, if gyms charge people more if they attend less frequently and less if they attend regularly, people come more often. The gyms effectively impose a cost of not working out, which boosts members’ motivation to attend and circumvents the need to rely solely on
a member’s willpower.

Phone apps could also be used to tap into the powerful concept of consistency, tracking people’s activity with a daily activity log and offering incentives. If users know they’ll get a reward for doing something every day for a fixed period, and have this reinforced visually, they’re more likely to precommit to it.

The real window of opportunity is when people sign up, when they’re at their most motivated. Operators could make it a requirement that new members have a brief chat with a member of staff who can talk them through the challenges of making yourself regularly attend the gym, as well as offering them some tools.

One of those tools should be that clubs encourage members to make a plan, both when they join and on an ongoing basis. On what days will they exercise? What will they do? How will they get to the gym? Research shows that people are more likely to do what they say if they actually articulate a plan, rather than simply stating an intention to do something. If operators then offer a discount or other financial incentive for sticking to that plan, people’s precommitment will be even stronger.

Meanwhile, individuals could implement a number of ideas. Research conducted by Katy Milkman at the Wharton School in the US has shown the benefits of members holding their favourite TV shows ‘hostage’. If they’re a fan of Game of Thrones, for example, they set up their personal viewing systems so they can only watch each new episode at the gym. In this way, they ‘precommit’ to going.

They could also buy an extra set of toiletries and have a gym bag packed at all times, with shampoo, deodorant, a spare set of underwear. The fewer obstacles that can get in the way of executing an action you’ve precommitted to the better; having a gym bag ready will help you actually get out of the door.

How easy is it to precommit?
Technology is already available to help, but today’s devices require some level of self-knowledge – an awareness of your flaws. However, going forward we’re likely to see new gadgets that track and quantify our behaviour in order to help us identify our weak spots. For example, you might get a text saying: “It’s nearly your bedtime – how about switching off your wifi?” If the system also told you how many times you’d checked your emails between 2.00am and 6.00am the previous night, you may be more motivated to precommit to a good night’s sleep by disabling the wifi.

All that said, particularly when it comes to things like exercise, there’s no app that can completely replace self-control. There’s a danger with ‘nudge’ theory (see HCM April 14, p44) that people will start to think technology can do everything for them and they won’t have to lift a finger, but that isn’t the case. Tools can make the process easier, but the last half a mile will still be down to the individual. That’s important for members to know. They’ll still have to get on the treadmill and sweat.