Mike Carruthers

So you would think that smart people make smart decisions, but the fact is that the more options you give someone, even a smart person, the worse their decisions get.

When you're choosing between two things, it's pretty straightforward.

It's this one or that one.

But add in a third option, even one that's clearly inferior, and suddenly people start changing their minds.

And not in a logical way.

That extra choice can actually push you towards an option you wouldn't have picked otherwise.

Researchers have found that our brains don't compare choices in a clean, rational line.

Instead, we evaluate things relative to each other, and that creates noise in the decision-making process.

The result is irrelevant options can sway us, confuse us, and even trick us into making worse decisions.

It's why marketers often include a decoy option, something designed not to be chosen but to make another choice look better.

And it works surprisingly well, even on very smart people.

And that is something you should know.

When you're in a relationship with someone, you're not just reacting to that person in the moment, you're following a pattern.

Psychologists call it your attachment style.

And once you understand your attachment style, a lot of your relationship behavior suddenly starts to make sense.

You begin to see why some people seem confident and comfortable with intimacy, while others worry, pull away, or struggle to connect.

Why the same issues keep showing up again and again in different relationships.

This isn't guesswork.

It's based on decades of research.

In fact, attachment theory is one of the most well-established areas in relationship science.