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Why do we act on our urges?

Matthew Parris has confessed "to wanting to bite peoples' bottoms" on escalators. Do other people have naughty things they have to stop themselves from doing?

Psychologist Dr Alan Watkins tells Radio 4's PM programme these urges are normally associated with "early rewarded behaviour" in childhood that gets embedded in the memory. These memories can then sometimes be "triggered by a very similar experience" when that person is an adult.

(Photo:Businesswoman being pushed around the office on a chair Credit: iStock)

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