The Pain of Paying: Why Cash Hurts More Than Credit
Different payment methods trigger different levels of neurological pain, reshaping both your spending and your satisfaction
Fairness Intuitions: Why We Reject Free Money on Principle
Why people burn real money to punish unfairness—and what that means for markets, policy, and negotiation
Regret Aversion: How Fear of Future Feelings Shapes Present Choices
Why bad outcomes from action hurt more than identical outcomes from inaction — and what that costs us
Overconfidence Bias: The Most Dangerous Decision Error
Why experience often makes us more certain rather than more accurate, and what actually helps.
Opportunity Cost Neglect: The Unseen Price of Every Choice
Why we obsess over what we spend while ignoring what we sacrifice—and how to see the full ledger.
Hedonic Adaptation: Why Happiness Returns to Baseline
Your brain is designed to normalize everything—here's how to invest in what resists the pull
Peak-End Rule: Why Finales Trump Totals in Memory
Your memory compresses hours into peaks and endings—designing experiences means knowing which self you're optimizing for.
The Hot-Cold Empathy Gap: Why Future Self Feels Like a Stranger
Your calm self can't imagine what your desperate self will want—and this blindness shapes every plan you make.
Choice Overload: When More Options Means Worse Decisions
Why abundant alternatives can paralyze decision-making—and how to structure choices that actually help people choose.
Anchoring: The First Number Wins
Why the first number you hear quietly sets the boundaries of everything you'll think reasonable
Status Quo Bias: The Comfort of Not Deciding
Why we cling to what we have, even when better options are obvious—and what it takes to actually change.
Probability Neglect: When Emotions Overwhelm Likelihood
Why vivid outcomes make probability invisible to our risk assessment—and how to see the numbers again
Why Losing $100 Hurts More Than Winning $100 Feels Good
The psychological asymmetry that distorts every decision involving risk and reward
Reference Points: The Invisible Anchors of Every Decision
Why identical outcomes feel like victories or defeats depends on comparison points you rarely consciously choose.
The Endowment Effect: Why Ownership Warps Value
Why you'd demand twice what you'd pay—and how to recognize when possession distorts your pricing decisions
The Present Bias: Why Future You Always Loses
How hyperbolic discounting explains the systematic gap between your planning self and acting self—and the commitment structures that actually bridge it.
Framing Effects: How Presentation Reshapes Reality
Identical options produce opposite choices based on presentation—learn to see the frames shaping every decision you make.
Default Effects: The Extraordinary Power of Inertia
Why the option you never chose might be controlling your most important decisions—and how to reclaim genuine agency.
Mental Accounting: The Hidden Ledgers Shaping Your Spending
Discover why your brain treats identical dollars differently—and how to redesign your invisible financial ledgers for smarter spending decisions.
Sunk Cost Fallacy: The Trap of Honoring Past Investments
Learn why past investments hijack future decisions—and build the framework for knowing when walking away is the rational choice.
Certainty Effect: Why We Overpay for Guarantees
The psychological gap between 'almost certain' and 'guaranteed' costs you more than you realize—here's when paying for certainty makes sense.