The Behavioural Science Podcast
Cognitive Footprints
Behind every decision lies a story. This podcast follows those stories to their source, speaking with the world’s leading behavioural scientists about what truly shapes our choices.
About the podcast
Why do you keep hitting snooze?
Why does a “20% off” sign feel like it’s calling your name?Why is quitting a habit you don’t want so much harder than picking it up?These aren’t mysteries. They’re well‑documented behavioural patterns. For decades, researchers have been uncovering the forces that shape how we think, choose and act. Their work influences everything from hospital forms to pension schemes to the apps designed to keep you scrolling longer than you meant to. But most of us never get to hear the science behind it.Cognitive Footprints changes that. We sit down with the scientists uncovering these patterns and ask them to break it down simply: What does the evidence really show? Where does it get twisted? And how might you make different choices once you see what affects them?
Why we are making this
Behavioural science matters
Most of the advice people get about changing their behaviour – eat better, save more, exercise, sleep enough – ignores fifty years of research into why those things are hard.Behavioural science takes the gap between what people intend and what they actually do seriously, treating it as a scientific problem worth solving. And that gap explains a lot: why willpower‑based approaches fail, why reminders work better when they show that others have already done it, and why where an item appears on a menu affects what people choose.
The Behavioural Scientist and the Tech Founder
Meet your hosts
Karolina has a PhD from the University of Manchester, where she studied how emotion regulation affects attention and memory. She has spent the years since applying behavioural science in clinical and commercial settings. Her motivation for this podcast is simple: the people who most need this knowledge are usually the last ones to hear about it.
Karolina Czarna, PhD
Damian is co-founder of Functionly and a board member of the European Organisation Design Forum. He has built products used by millions of people and spent his career thinking about how systems shape human behaviour at work. He comes to each conversation wanting to understand the psychology underneath the things he builds.
Damian Bramanis
