This just reminded me of microcredit in developing countries. The loans are often given to a group of several people, rather than one individual, and the repayments have to be made in public in the village. The group self-selects individuals likely to repay (so they don’t have to suffer for the non-repayment of others), and the public nature of the credit put their reputation on the line.
This suggests a method of implementing “do stuff to avoid social status loss”—when you wish to commit yourself to doing something, you should make a public announcement to a group whose image of you matters. That way if you back down, you lose credibility in your social group.
This just reminded me of microcredit in developing countries. The loans are often given to a group of several people, rather than one individual, and the repayments have to be made in public in the village. The group self-selects individuals likely to repay (so they don’t have to suffer for the non-repayment of others), and the public nature of the credit put their reputation on the line.
This suggests a method of implementing “do stuff to avoid social status loss”—when you wish to commit yourself to doing something, you should make a public announcement to a group whose image of you matters. That way if you back down, you lose credibility in your social group.