Primary/Secondary button placement pattern

Button placement has been a debated topic at within my UX team recently and I am for feedback or direction to research that states a solution. The problem I am trying to solve is where to place Primary and secondary buttons when both are visible on the screen. I place my primary in the bottom right corner and my secondary in the bottom left corner, separated from each other to require the user to think before pushing. In my case, the secondary button cancels the operation and i am concerned with placing it directly next to the primary action.