The Peak-End Rule

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