Why do we need more than just food and survival to truly thrive? In this episode of Circuit Breaker: Rewiring Your Decisions, we explore Harry Harlow’s controversial monkey experiments — research that challenged the idea that attachment is simply about satisfying physical needs. We examine how the monkeys sought comfort and security, while also confronting the serious ethical questions surrounding the experiments.

Discover why comfort and emotional security matter, but also why Harlow’s findings cannot be reduced to comfort alone — healthy development depends on connection, social interaction, learning, and a wider environment that meets our psychological needs.

Studies and links:

Revisiting Harry Harlow's Legacy: Cruelty Towards Monkeys | Psychology Today https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/the-first-impression/201607/revisiting-harry-harlow-s-legacy-cruelty-towards-monkeys

Harry Harlow Monkey Experiments in Psychology | Simply Psychology https://www.simplypsychology.org/harlow-monkey.html

The Nature of Love | Harry Harlow https://users.sussex.ac.uk/~grahamh/RM1web/Classic%20papers/Harlow1958.pdf

Why do we remember an experience based on its most intense moment and how it ended, rather than the experience as a whole? In this episode of Circuit Breaker: Rewiring Your Decisions, we explore the Peak-End Rule - the psychological bias that causes our memories of an experience to be shaped disproportionately by its emotional peak and its final moments.

Discover how our memories can distort the way we judge past experiences, why a great ending can transform how we remember something difficult, and how the moments we remember most can influence the decisions we make next.

Studies and links:

When More Pain Is Preferred to Less: Adding a Better End | Daniel Kahneman and Barbara Fredrickson https://ibio-v2.s3.amazonaws.com/media/course/SYR/2020/when-more-pain-is-preferred-to-less--adding-a-better-end.pdf

How do our memories differ from our experiences? | The Decision Lab https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/peak-end-rule

Why can something as simple as a warm cup of coffee change the way we see another person? In this episode of Circuit Breaker: Rewiring Your Decisions, we explore the Hot Coffee study - research showing how physical sensations can subconsciously influence our social judgements.

Discover how something as subtle as temperature can shape our perceptions without as realising it, and how our physical experiences are not at all unrelated to our social ones.

Studies and links:

Does Physical Warmth Prime Social Warmth? | John A. Bargh and David Melnikoff https://acmelab.yale.edu/sites/default/files/bargh_melnikoff_reply_to_chabris_et_al_2019.pdf

Hot Drinks Equal Warm Feelings, as Scientists Link Physical and Emotional Warmth | pbs.org

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/science-july-dec08-warmth_10-24

Why do we want something more simply because it's harder to get? In this episode of Circuit Breaker: Rewiring Your Decisions, we explore the Scarcity Effect - the psychological tendency to place greater value on things that seem rare, limited, or about to disappear.

Discover how scarcity shapes our decisions, why "limited-time offers" and exclusive opportunities feel so irresistible, and how to recognise when urgency is driving your choices more than genuine value.

Studies and links:

How to Boost Desire Using the Psychology of Scarcity | Psychology Today https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/automatic-you/201307/how-boost-desire-using-the-psychology-scarcity

Scarcity | The Decision Lab https://thedecisionlab.com/reference-guide/anthropology/scarcity

Why do we unconsciously become more like the people around us? In this episode of Circuit Breaker: Rewiring Your Decisions, we explore the Chameleon Effect — the psychological tendency to automatically mirror the behaviours, attitudes, and habits of those around us, often without even realising it.

Discover how the people you surround yourself with quietly shape the way you think, act, and grow, why your environment matters more than you might expect, and how choosing the right influences can help you become the person you want to be.

Studies and links:

The Chameleon Effect: The Perception-Behavior Link and Social Interaction | Tanya L. Chartrand and John A. Bargh | Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1999, Vol 76, No.6, 893-910 https://acmelab.yale.edu/sites/default/files/1999_the_chameleon_effect.pdf

Chameleon Effect | The Decision Lab https://thedecisionlab.com/reference-guide/psychology/chameleon-effect

Why do small signs of disorder have such a big impact on the way people behave? In this episode of Circuit Breaker: Rewiring Your Decisions, we explore the Broken Windows Theory — the idea that visible signs of neglect, disorder, or rule-breaking can encourage further antisocial behaviour by signalling that no one is paying attention.

Discover how our surroundings influence our decisions, why environments can shape behaviour more than we realise, and what this theory reveals about the power of setting expectations through the spaces we live, work, and learn in.

Studies and links:

Broken Windows Theory | Simply Psychology https://www.simplypsychology.org/broken-windows-theory.html

Broken Windows | James Q Wilson and George L Kelling https://media4.manhattan-institute.org/pdf/_atlantic_monthly-broken_windows.pdf

Experimental evidence for the Broken Windows Theory | international cognition & culture institute https://www.cognitionandculture.net/blogs/nicolas-claidires-blog/experimental-evidence-for-the-broken-window-theory/index.html

Why do we believe a random event is “due” to happen just because it hasn’t happened in a while? In this episode of Circuit Breaker: Rewiring Your Decisions, we explore the gambler’s fallacy — the cognitive bias that makes us think past random outcomes influence future ones, even when every event is completely independent.

Discover why streaks can fool our intuition, how our brains search for patterns in pure chance, and how recognising this bias can help you make more rational decisions in situations involving uncertainty and probability.

Studies and links:

The Gambler’s and Hot-Hand Fallacies: Theories and Applications | Matthew Rabin and Dimitri Vayanos | The Review of Economic Studies https://rabin.scholars.harvard.edu/sites/g/files/omnuum7721/files/rabin/files/ghfta_resf.pdf

Why do we think a random event is more or less likely to occur if it happened several times in the past? | The Decision Lab https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/gamblers-fallacy

The Gambler’s Fallacy: What It Is And How To Overcome It | Forbes https://www.forbes.com/sites/brycehoffman/2024/08/27/the-gamblers-fallacy-what-it-is-and-how-to-overcome-it/

Why does having your phone nearby make it harder to think — even when you’re not using it? In this episode of Circuit Breaker: Rewiring Your Decisions, we explore the Phone in the Room Study — the surprising research showing that the mere presence of a smartphone can reduce attention, working memory, and cognitive performance.

Discover how your brain allocates resources to resisting distraction, why “just having it there” can drain mental capacity, and what this study reveals about the hidden cognitive costs of constant connectivity.

Studies and links:

Brain Drain: The Mere Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity | Adrian F. Ward, Kristen Duke, Ayelet Gneezy, Maarten W Bos | Research Gate https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315966604_Brain_Drain_The_Mere_Presence_of_One's_Own_Smartphone_Reduces_Available_Cognitive_Capacity

Smartphones are distracting even when you’re not using them | The Journalist’s Resource https://journalistsresource.org/economics/smartphones-mobile-distracting-cognition-iphone/

Why is it that the harder we try not to think about something, the more it seems to take over our minds? In this episode of Circuit Breaker: Rewiring Your Decisions, we explore the White Bear Suppression Study — the famous experiment that revealed the paradox of thought suppression. When participants were told not to think about a white bear, they found themselves thinking about it even more.

Discover why trying to suppress thoughts often backfires, how unwanted ideas can become more persistent the more we resist them, and what this surprising effect teaches us about attention, self-control, and the way our minds work.

Studies and links:

The White Bear Story | Daniel Wegner and David Schneider | Psychological Inquiry 2003 vol 14 no 3&4 326-329 https://dtg.sites.fas.harvard.edu/DANWEGNER/pub/White%20Bear%20Story.pdf

Ironic Process Theory & The White Bear Experiment | Simply Psychology https://www.simplypsychology.org/ironic-process-theory-white-bear-experiment.html

Why do people agree to big requests after saying yes to a small one? In this episode of Circuit Breaker: Rewiring Your Decisions, we explore the foot-in-the-door technique — a powerful persuasion strategy where securing a small commitment first makes people more likely to agree to a larger request later.

Discover why consistency is such a strong force in human behaviour, how marketers, salespeople, and campaigners use this technique to influence decisions, and how to recognise when a seemingly harmless first step is leading you somewhere much bigger.

Studies and links:

Compliance without Pressure: The foot-in-the-door technique | Jonathan L. Freedman and Scott C. Fraser | Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1966, Vol. 4, No. 2, 155-202 | buildonomics.com https://www.bulidomics.com/w/images/6/6c/Freedman_fraser_footinthedoor_jpsp1966.pdf

Foot-in-the-Door as a Persuasive Technique | psychologist world the foot-in-the-door technique | https://www.psychologistworld.com/behavior/compliance/strategies/foot-in-door-technique

Why is it so difficult to remember what it’s like not to know something? In this episode of Circuit Breaker: Rewiring Your Decisions, we explore the curse of knowledge — the cognitive bias that makes informed people assume others share the same understanding, context, or perspective that they do.

Discover how knowledge can unintentionally create blind spots, why experts often struggle to explain simple ideas clearly, and how this bias shapes communication, teaching, and everyday misunderstandings more than we realise.

Studies and links:

The Rocky Road from Actions to Intentions | Elizabeth Newton https://gwern.net/doc/psychology/cognitive-bias/illusion-of-depth/1990-newton.pdf

Curse of Knowledge | The Decision Lab https://thedecisionlab.com/reference-guide/management/curse-of-knowledge

Why does what we believe about ourselves change the way other people seem to treat us? In this episode of Circuit Breaker: Rewiring Your Decisions, we explore the Scar Experiment — the psychological study showing how our beliefs and insecurities can shape the way we interpret social interactions.

Discover how seeing yourself as judged, weak, or victimised can subtly change the way you act and respond to the world — and how the same mechanism can work in the opposite direction.

Studies and links:

Invisible Scars | Psychology today https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/beyond-school-walls/202410/invisible-scars

Perceptions of the Impact of Negatively Valued Physical Characteristics on Social Interaction | Robert E. Kleck and Angelo Strenta | Journal of Personality and Social Psychology | Research gate https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Robert-Kleck/publication/232481827_Perceptions_of_the_impact_of_negatively_valued_physical_characteristics_on_social_interaction/links/56a4f54d08aeef24c58bae73/Perceptions-of-the-impact-of-negatively-valued-physical-characteristics-on-social-interaction.pdf

Why do our preferences change just because a third option is added? In this episode of Circuit Breaker: Rewiring Your Decisions, we explore the decoy effect — the phenomenon where introducing a strategically inferior option makes one of the original choices more attractive.

Discover how comparisons shape what we choose, why “irrelevant” options can steer decisions, and how to recognise when your preference is being nudged by the way choices are presented rather than what you truly want.

Studies and links:

Decoy Effect | Think Insights https://thinkinsights.net/strategy/decoy-effect

The Economist Magazine: A story of clever decoy pricing effect | The Strategy Story https://thestrategystory.com/2020/10/02/economist-magazine-a-story-of-clever-decoy-pricing/

Why do we feel more strongly about one option after a third one is added? | The Decision Lab https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/decoy-effect

Why do we feel a surge of compassion for one person’s story — yet stay emotionally flat when thousands are suffering? In this episode of Circuit Breaker: Rewiring Your Decisions, we unpack the identifiable victim effect — our tendency to respond more strongly to a single, vivid individual than to an entire group.

Explore why statistics leave us cold, how our brains are wired to care about people rather than numbers, and how recognising this pattern helps you understand why one story can move you to act when large‑scale problems barely register.

Studies and links:

The ‘‘Identified Victim’’ Effect: An Identified Group, or Just a Single Individual? | Tehila Kogut and Ilana Ritov | Journal of Behavioral Decision Making The "identified victim" effect: an identified group, or just a single individual?

Why are we more likely to offer help to a specific individual than a vague group? | The Decision Lab Identifiable Victim Effect - The Decision Lab

Why do we judge decisions by how they turn out - rather than how they were made? In this episode of Circuit Breaker: Rewiring Your Decisions, we explore outcome bias - the tendency to evaluate the quality of a decision based on its result, instead of the reasoning behind it.

Discover how good decisions can lead to bad outcomes (and vice versa), how hindsight skews our judgement, and how to focus on the process rather than the result when it matters most.

Studies and links:

Outcome Bias in Decision Evaluation | Jonathon Baron and John C. Hershey | Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1988, Vol. 54, No. 4, 569-579 outcomebias.pdf

Outcome Bias: Definition, Examples and Effects | clearerthinking.org Outcome Bias: Definition, Examples and Effects

Why do we blame people's haracter for their actions - but excuse our own behaviour as "just the situation"? In this episode of Circuit Breaker: Rewiring Your Decisions. we explore the fundamental attribution error - the tendency to overestimate personal traits and underestimate situational factors when judging others.

Discover how this bias shapes the way we interpret behavior, why we're quick to label others but slow to consider context, and how recognising this pattern can lead to fairer, more accurate judgements.

Studies and links:

The Attribution of Attitudes | Edward E. Jones and Victor A. Harris | Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 3, 1-24 (1967) PII: 0022-1031(67)90034-0

Fundamental Attribution Error Theory in Psychology | Simply Psychology Fundamental Attribution Error Theory in Psychology

Why do events feel obvious after they've already haappened? In this episode of Circuit Breaker: Rewiring Your Decisions, we explore hindsight bias - the tendency to see outcomes as predictable in retrospect, even when they weren't at the time.

Discover how this "knew it all along" effect distorts memory, inflates confidence in our judgement, and makes us underestimate uncertainty.

Studies and links:

Hindsight^Foresight: The Effect of Outcome Knowledge on Judgment Under Uncertainty | Baruch Fischhoff Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel | Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 1975, Vol. 1, No. 3, 288-299 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology Fischhoff_1975_Hindsight_is_not_equal_to_foresight.pdf

Hindsight Bias | The Decision Lab Hindsight Bias - The Decision Lab

Why does making a small mistake sometimes make someone more likeable? In this episode of Circuit Breaker: Rewiring Your Decisions, we explore the pratfall effect - the psychological phenomenon where a minor slip-up can actually increase someone's appeal, especially if they're already seen as competent.

Discover how imperfection can humanise us, how confidence interacts with mistakes, and how a flaw can actually make you more relatable.

Studies and links:

The effect of a pratfall on increasing interpersonal attractiveness | Elliot Aronson, University of Texas | Ben Willerman, Social Science Research Council | Joanne Floyd, University of Utah | scispace.com The effect of a pratfall on increasing interpersonal attractiveness.

The Pratfall Effect | Everyday PsychThe Pratfall Effect - Everyday Psych

Why are we more inclined to make a bad choice after doing something good? In this episode of Circuit Breaker: Rewiring Your Decisions, we explore moral licensing - the psychological effect where past "good" behaviour subconsciously gives us permission to act less ethically or responsibly later on.

Discover how small acts of virtue can quietly justify poor decisions, how we balance our actions like a mental scoreboard, and how important it is to recognise when you're using past choices to excuse present ones.

Studies and links:

Buying Green: Consumer Behavior | Ethics Unwrapped Buying Green: Consumer Behavior - Ethics Unwrapped

Do Green Products Make Us Better People? | Nina Mazar, Chen-Bo Zhong | University of Toronto | In Press at Psychological Science Green Products Psych Sci.pdf

Why do we assume that most people think the same way we do? In this episode of Circuit Breaker: Rewiring Your Decisions, we explore the false consensus effect - the cognitive bias that leads us to overestimate how much others share our beliefs, opinions and behaviours.

Discover how our own perspectives subtly become the "default" in our minds, how we expect agreement more often than reality delivers, and how recognising this bias can help you understand others more accurately and think beyond your own assumptions.

Studies and links:

The "False Consensus Effect": an Egocentric Bias in Social Perception and Attribution Processes | Lee Ross, David Greene and Pamela House | Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 13 | bulidomics.com PII: 0022-1031(77)90049-X

False Consensus Effect: Definition and Examples | Simply Psychology False Consensus Effect: Definition and Examples