The Brainy Business | Understanding the Psychology of Why People Buy

Melina Palmer takes behavioral economics out of the textbook and puts it to work. The Brainy Business has over 560 episodes focused on one central question: why do people buy things, and how can you use that knowledge ethically? Palmer is a behavioral economics consultant who studied under some of the field's big names, and she is genuinely good at making concepts like anchoring, framing effects, and loss aversion feel practical rather than abstract. The show alternates between solo episodes where Palmer breaks down a specific cognitive bias or behavioral principle, and interview episodes featuring researchers and authors working in psychology and decision science. Solo episodes tend to run around 30 to 50 minutes and follow a tight structure -- she will explain the concept, cite the research, then walk through real-world applications. The interview episodes are more free-flowing but still focused. What makes this show relevant for psychology listeners specifically is how seriously Palmer treats the underlying science. She is not just skimming Wikipedia entries on heuristics. She digs into the original studies, discusses replication concerns, and regularly references Kahneman, Thaler, Ariely, and other foundational figures in the field. The business framing might suggest this is only for marketers, but anyone interested in how human decision-making actually works will find plenty here. With a 4.7-star rating and twice-weekly episodes, Palmer has built a remarkably consistent resource at the intersection of psychology and everyday choices.