Do you remember ‘Why Don’t you?’, the cult children’s television programme from the 70′s and 80′s? For me, the temptation to keep the programme on and do something More Boring instead was too much. I would slope off to watch paint dry,  leaving the television on behind me.

Little did I know that my actions illustrated ‘Reactance’ the cognitive bias defined as ‘the urge to do the opposite of what someone wants you to do out of a need to resist a perceived attempt to constrain your freedom of choice’.

More cognitive bias treats to come – to celebrate Cognitive Bias Fortnight!