In a precommitment case, the person takes on burdens which are imposed by purely external forces. The surety of punishment comes from the duty other people have to honor the agreement and take a pound of flesh. In showing you this agreement, bearing an appropriate seal of recognition, I demonstrate that I will suffer negative consequences for cheating.
Guilt, however, doesn’t operate in that way because I can’t show you my guilt function and so demonstrate my commitment. If we expand it to say that my reputation for guilt is an assurance, we’re still not there since we could just as well use the old-fashioned “he upolds his bargains” reputation.
Here’s an alternative: guilt is a way to avoid punishment. Since the range of punishments easily moves towards physical harm and even forms of exile (from shunning to separation) you would be well served by punishing yourself, if it might help you avoid the harshest punishments. In fact, it may be that guilt is actually socially constructed and is secretly a very old psychological technique for punishing people without physical harm. We can, after all, learn to make people feel guilty.
Is guilt really a good signal?
In a precommitment case, the person takes on burdens which are imposed by purely external forces. The surety of punishment comes from the duty other people have to honor the agreement and take a pound of flesh. In showing you this agreement, bearing an appropriate seal of recognition, I demonstrate that I will suffer negative consequences for cheating.
Guilt, however, doesn’t operate in that way because I can’t show you my guilt function and so demonstrate my commitment. If we expand it to say that my reputation for guilt is an assurance, we’re still not there since we could just as well use the old-fashioned “he upolds his bargains” reputation.
Here’s an alternative: guilt is a way to avoid punishment. Since the range of punishments easily moves towards physical harm and even forms of exile (from shunning to separation) you would be well served by punishing yourself, if it might help you avoid the harshest punishments. In fact, it may be that guilt is actually socially constructed and is secretly a very old psychological technique for punishing people without physical harm. We can, after all, learn to make people feel guilty.