Why do we choose what we choose?

Crossing Channels

In this episode, Richard Westcott is joined by Simone Schnall, Catherine Molho, and Maximilian Müller to explore a big, everyday question: why do we make the choices we do? From decisions about money and morality to careers and relationships, the conversation digs into what really drives us—whether it’s emotions, social pressure, or the stories we tell ourselves after the fact.

The conversation explores how physical experiences and emotions like fear or anger can shape our judgement, and how gossip and social norms influence who we trust and how we act. Our experts also discuss how we reshape memories to fit our choices, and how identity can shape what we believe or invest in. It’s a fascinating look at what really drives human behaviour—and what that means for how we design policies, technology, the systems we live in, and the role AI might play in shaping our decisions.

This episode is hosted by Richard Westcott (Cambridge University Health Partners and the Cambridge Biomedical Campus), and features experts Catherine Molho (IAST), Maximilian Müller (TSE) and Simone Schnall (Cambridge University).

• Season 4 Episode 8 transcript
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For more information about the Crossing Channels podcast series and the work of the Bennett Institute and IAST visit our websites at https://www.bennettinstitute.cam.ac.uk/ and https://www.iast.fr/.

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With thanks to:

• Audio production by Steve Hankey
• Associate production by Burcu Sevde Selvi
• Visuals by Tiffany Naylor and Aurore Carbonnel

More information about our host and guests:

Podcast host

Richard Westcott is an award-winning journalist who spent 27 years at the BBC as a correspondent/producer/presenter covering global stories for the flagship Six and Ten o’clock TV news as well as the Today programme. Last year, Richard left the corporation and is now the communications director for Cambridge University Health Partners and the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, both organisations that are working to support life sciences and healthcare across the city. @BBCwestcott

Podcast guests

Catherine Molho is a psychologist studying human cooperation, social norms, and the role of emotions in decision-making, at IAST. Her work draws upon insights from social and evolutionary psychology, behavioral economics, and anthropology. She uses interactive experiments, experience sampling, and cross-cultural surveys to better understand what shapes cooperative and punitive decisions.

Maximilian Müller is a behavioural economist at Toulouse School of Economics where he studies questions in fields such as education, development, and family economics. In his research, he examines social influences on individual behavior and beliefs around big life decisions such as career or fertility choices and explores their potential consequences for society-wide outcomes such as intergenerational transmission and social mobility.

Simone Schnall is the Director of the Cambridge Body, Mind and Behaviour Laboratory and Fellow of Jesus College at University of Cambridge. By combining insights and methods from social psychology and cognitive science her research explores how thoughts and feelings interact. She aims to understand how people make judgments and decisions about other people, and about physical properties of the world.