Conference Session

Reflective & Critical Pedagogies

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Joe Tranquillo, Bucknell University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

come to illustrate how self-imposed decisions at one time can constrain future ac-tions. We know from a long line of psychological studies that when we make decisions in themoment, they are not always well thought out and may in fact be detrimental to us in the fu-ture 8,9 . And even when we make a decision beforehand, if it is too easy to break that decisionwhen it matters, it is an empty decision. Constraining our future actions in such a way that wecannot change that decision has becoming known as a Ulysses Contract (sometimes also calledSelf-Paternalism 10 ). The canonical example comes from the therapy of addiction, where an alco-holic will pour their liquor down the drain in a moment of clarity to prevent drinking at a latermoment of