Hidden Brain

By Hidden Brain

What's Hidden Brain about?

Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.

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Useful Delusions

04.05.2021

Podcast hosts are used to being the ones asking the questions. This week, though, we’re going to flip that script, and put Shankar in the guest seat. We’ll hear a recent interview he did with Krys Boyd of the public ...

Hidden Brain episodes:

04.05.2021 Useful Delusions Podcast hosts are used to being the ones asking the questions. This week, though, we’re going to flip that script, and put Shankar in the guest seat. We’ll hear a recent interview he did with Krys Boyd of the public ...
03.29.2021 Made of Honor Stories help us make sense of the world, and can even help us to heal from trauma. They also shape our cultural narratives, for better and for worse. This week on Hidden Brain, we conclude our three-part series on storytelling ...
03.22.2021 The Story of Your Life We can’t go back and change the past. We can’t erase trauma and hardship. But what if there was a way to regain control of our personal narratives? In the second part of our series on storytelling, we look at ...
03.15.2021 The Story of Stories Why is my friend late? How does nuclear fission work? What occurs when I sneeze? We all need to understand why certain things happen. Some researchers think the drive to explain the world is a basic human impulse, similar to ...
03.09.2021 Radically Normal For generations, it was difficult, even dangerous, to express a sexual orientation other than heterosexuality in the United States. But in recent years, much has changed. This week, we revisit our 2019 episode about one of the most striking transformations ...
03.01.2021 The Snowball Effect Why do some companies become household names, while others flame out? How do certain memes go viral? And why do some social movements take off and spread, while others fizzle? Today on the show, we talk with sociologist Damon Centola ...
02.26.2021 The Match We get messages all the time from listeners who say Hidden Brain has helped them to think differently about the world, and about themselves. As producers, nothing is more rewarding or gratifying. Today, we bring you a listener story that ...
02.22.2021 Creating God If you've taken part in a religious service, have you ever stopped to think about how people become believers? Where do the rituals come from? And what purpose does it all serve? This week, we bring you a 2018 episode ...
02.16.2021 Is It Better to Know? Being able to see what’s happening around us can help us make smart decisions. But knowledge — especially knowledge of how others perceive us — can also hold us back, mire us in needless worry, and keep us from achieving ...
02.13.2021 Love is Blind Why do some relationships last, while others falter? In this bonus episode, Shankar looks at one thing successful couples do well.
02.08.2021 How They See Us Stereotypes are all around us, shaping how we see the world – and how the world sees us. On the surface, the stereotypes that other people hold shouldn’t affect the way we think or act. But our concerns about other ...
02.01.2021 The Easiest Person to Fool Physicist Richard Feynman once said, “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.” One way we fool ourselves is by imagining we know more than we do; we think we ...
01.25.2021 Afraid of the Wrong Things Around the world, people are grappling with the risks posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. How do our minds process that risk, and why do some of us process it so differently? This week, we talk with psychologist Paul Slovic about ...
01.18.2021 Our Brands, Our Selves All of us are surrounded by brands. Designer brands. Bargain-shopper brands. Brands for seemingly every demographic slice among us. But have you ever stopped to ask yourself how brands influence you? This week, we bring you our 2019 conversation with ...
01.11.2021 The Secret Life of Secrets It’s human nature to hide parts of ourselves that produce shame or anxiety. We tend to skip over details that could change how others perceive us. But no matter how big or small our secret, it will often weigh on ...
01.04.2021 The Double Standard It's easy to spot bias in other people, especially those with whom we disagree. But it’s not so easy to recognize our own biases. Psychologist Emily Pronin says it’s partly because of our brain architecture. This week on Hidden Brain, ...
12.28.2020 A Creature of Habit At the beginning of the year, many of us make resolutions for the months to come. We resolve to work out more, to procrastinate less, or to save more money. Though some people stick with these aspirations, many of us ...
12.22.2020 Waiting Games For so many people across the globe, 2020 has been a year of waiting and uncertainty. Waiting to see friends and family in far-flung locales. Waiting to hear about unemployment aid, or job opportunities. Waiting to hear about loved ones ...
12.14.2020 Minimizing Pain, Maximizing Joy Life is filled with hardships and tragedies — a fact that 2020 has made all too clear for people across the globe. For thousands of years, philosophers have come up with strategies to help us cope with such hardship. This ...
12.07.2020 Screaming into a Void Turn on the news or look at Twitter, and it's likely you'll be bombarded by outrage. Many people have come to believe that the only way to spark change is to incite anger. This week on Hidden Brain, we revisit ...
11.30.2020 A Conspiracy of Silence We all self-censor at times. We keep quiet at dinner with our in-laws, or nod passively in a work meeting. But what happens when we take this deception a step further, and pretend we believe the opposite of what we ...
11.23.2020 Where Gratitude Gets You Many of us struggle with self-control. And we assume willpower is the key to achieving our goals. But there's a simple and often overlooked mental habit that can improve our health and well-being. This week on Hidden Brain, we talk ...
11.16.2020 When You Start to Miss Tony from Accounting If you're one of the 40 percent of Americans now working from home, you might be reveling in your daily commute to the dining room table. Or you might be saying, "Get me out of here." Economist Nicholas Bloom joins ...
11.09.2020 Between Two Worlds Determination, hard work and sacrifice are core ingredients in the story of the American dream. But philosopher Jennifer Morton argues there is another, more painful requirement to getting ahead: a willingness to leave family and friends behind. This week, we ...
11.02.2020 From Pedestals to Guillotines As election season comes to a close, we explore our contradictory relationship with winners and losers. We tend to idolize the powerful, but we also enjoy seeing the high and mighty fall. Today we explore this paradox with a 2017 ...
10.26.2020 Not at the Dinner Table We typically divide the country into two distinct groups: Democrats and Republicans. But what if the real political divide in our country isn't between "left" and "right"? What if it's between those who care intensely about politics, and those who ...
10.19.2020 Moral Combat Most of us have a clear sense of right and wrong. But what happens when we view politics through a moral lens? This week, we talk with psychologist Linda Skitka about how moral certainty can produce moral blinders — and ...
10.12.2020 Beyond Doomscrolling There’s no question that 2020 has been a tough year. We're grappling with a global pandemic. A deep recession. Fresh reminders of racial injustice. But today — without minimizing the justifiable pain that 2020 has brought to so many people ...
10.05.2020 The Logic of Rage Neuroscientist Doug Fields was on a trip to Europe when a pickpocket stole his wallet. Doug, normally mild-mannered, became enraged — and his fury turned him into a stranger to himself. Today on Hidden Brain, we explore the secret logic ...
10.02.2020 An Update from Shankar It’s been five years since we launched this podcast. Today, we want to take a moment to thank the many people who’ve helped us over the years. And we want to share some changes with you.
09.28.2020 Laughter: The Best Medicine If you listen closely to giggles, guffaws, and polite chuckles, you can discern a huge amount of information about people and their relationships with each other. This week, we talk with neuroscientist Sophie Scott about the many shades of laughter, ...
09.21.2020 The Halo Effect Judy, Lyn and Donna Ulrich were driving to a volleyball game when their Ford Pinto was hit from behind by a Chevy van. The Pinto caught fire, and the three teenagers wereburned to death. This week on Hidden Brain, we ...
09.14.2020 Why Nobody Feels Rich If you've ever flown in economy class on a plane, you probably had to walk through the first class cabin to get to your seat. Maybe you noticed the extra leg room. The freshly-poured champagne. Maybe you were annoyed, or ...
09.07.2020 The Fee-for-Service Monster The United States spends trillions of dollars on healthcare every year, but our outcomes are worse than those of other countries that spend less money. Why? Physician and healthcare executive Vivian Lee explains the psychological and economic incentives embedded in ...
08.31.2020 You 2.0: Empathy Gym Some people are good at putting themselves in another person's shoes. Others may struggle to relate. But psychologist Jamil Zaki argues that empathy isn't a fixed trait. This week, in our final installment of You 2.0, we revisit a favorite ...
08.24.2020 You 2.0: WOOP, WOOP! American culture is all about positive affirmations. Dream big! Shoot for the stars! But do positive fantasies actually help us achieve our goals? This week, as part of our You 2.0 summer series, we revisit a conversation with researcher Gabriele ...
08.17.2020 You 2.0: Loss And Renewal Maya Shankar was well on her way to a career as a violinist when an injury closed that door. This week, as part of our annual You 2.0 series on personal growth and reinvention, we revisit our 2015 conversation with ...
08.10.2020 You 2.0: The Mind's Eye Some challenges feel insurmountable. But psychologist Emily Balcetis says the solutions are often right in front of our eyes. This week, as part of our annual series on personal growth and reinvention, Emily explains how we can harness our sight ...
08.03.2020 You 2.0: Our Pursuit of Happiness Sometimes, life can feel like being stuck on a treadmill. No matter how hard you try to get happier, you end up back where you started. What's going on here? We kick off our annual You 2.0 summer series with ...
07.27.2020 Edge Effect There is great comfort in the familiar. It's one reason humans often flock to other people who share the same interests, laugh at the same jokes, hold the same political views. But familiar ground may not be the best place ...
07.20.2020 The Untold Story Of Lyndie B. Hawkins In 2019, a novel by a new author, Gail Shepherd, arrived in bookstores. The True History of Lyndie B. Hawkins tells the story of a young white girl growing up in the South. The book has been well received, but ...
07.13.2020 Romeo & Juliet In Rwanda How do you change someone's behavior? Most of us would point to education or persuasion. But what if the answer lies elsewhere? This week, we revisit a 2018 story about human nature and behavior change — a story that will ...
07.06.2020 The Night That Lasted A Lifetime Not long after his sixteenth birthday, Fred Clay was arrested for the murder of a cab driver in Boston. Eventually, Fred was found guilty — but only after police and prosecutors used questionable psychological techniques to single him out as ...
06.29.2020 The Founding Contradiction "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." These words, penned by Thomas Jefferson more than 240 years ago, continue to inspire many Americans. And yet they were written by a man who owned hundreds ...
06.22.2020 Buy, Borrow, Steal Policymakers have a tried-and-true game plan for jump-starting the economy in times of severe recession: Push stimulus packages and lower interest rates so Americans will borrow and spend. But economist Amir Sufi says the way we traditionally address a recession ...
06.15.2020 A Rap on Trial In the past few weeks, the nation has been gripped by protests against police brutality toward black and brown Americans. The enormous number of demonstrators may be new, but the biases they're protesting are not. In 2017, we looked at ...
06.12.2020 The Air We Breathe President Trump said this week that a few "bad apples" were to blame for police killings of black people. But research suggests that something more complicated is at play — a force that affects everyone in the culture, not just ...
06.08.2020 Playing Favorites If we do a favor for someone we know, we think we've done a good deed. What we don't tend to ask is: Who have we harmed by treating this person withmore kindness than we show toward others? This week, ...
06.01.2020 Justifying The Means When we are asked to make a moral choice, many of us imagine it involves listening to our hearts. To that, philosopher Peter Singer says, "nonsense." Singer believes there are no moral absolutes, and that logic and calculation are better ...
05.30.2020 The Time Machine In recent months, many of us have looked back with longing at our lives before COVID-19. For many of us, that world was one of bustle and activity — marked by scenes of packed restaurants, crowded subway cars, and chaotic ...

Older episodes

Hidden Brain

What's Hidden Brain about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Hidden Brain episodes:

Useful Delusions

Made of Honor

The Story of Your Life

The Story of Stories

Radically Normal

The Snowball Effect

The Match

Creating God

Is It Better to Know?

Love is Blind

How They See Us

The Easiest Person to Fool

Afraid of the Wrong Things

Our Brands, Our Selves

The Secret Life of Secrets

The Double Standard

A Creature of Habit

Waiting Games

Minimizing Pain, Maximizing Joy

Screaming into a Void

A Conspiracy of Silence

Where Gratitude Gets You

When You Start to Miss Tony from Accounting

Between Two Worlds

From Pedestals to Guillotines

Not at the Dinner Table

Moral Combat

Beyond Doomscrolling

The Logic of Rage

An Update from Shankar

Laughter: The Best Medicine

The Halo Effect

Why Nobody Feels Rich

The Fee-for-Service Monster

You 2.0: Empathy Gym

You 2.0: WOOP, WOOP!

You 2.0: Loss And Renewal

You 2.0: The Mind's Eye

You 2.0: Our Pursuit of Happiness

Edge Effect

The Untold Story Of Lyndie B. Hawkins

Romeo & Juliet In Rwanda

The Night That Lasted A Lifetime

The Founding Contradiction

Buy, Borrow, Steal

A Rap on Trial

The Air We Breathe

Playing Favorites

Justifying The Means

The Time Machine

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