Habits and Money: Why You Can't Remember What You Spend
About this episode
In this episode, Andy discusses how habits influence spending without conscious decision-making.
In this episode of Money Lessons, Andy opens up the machinery that moves money out of a household without ever passing through a decision. He starts with the narrow definition psychologists use for the word "habit" — a behavior repeated in the same surroundings until conscious decision-making drops out — and walks through the 2002 wristwatch studies that measured how often people's minds were somewhere else while they acted. He makes the case that habits are not a character defect but a feature that buys back mental energy, then shows why the same mechanism that makes a habit useful is what makes it nearly impossible to recall. AndrewTemte.com
People in this episode
Host: Andrew Temte
Topics covered
- habits
- money management
- psychology
- decision making
- spending behavior
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: 2002 wristwatch studies
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