Hidden Brain

By NPR

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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You 2.0: Our Better Nature

08.12.2019

If you live in a big city, you may have noticed new buildings popping up — a high-rise here, a skyscraper there. The concrete jungles that we've built over the past century have allowed millions of us to live in ...

Hidden Brain episodes:

08.12.2019 You 2.0: Our Better Nature If you live in a big city, you may have noticed new buildings popping up — a high-rise here, a skyscraper there. The concrete jungles that we've built over the past century have allowed millions of us to live in ...
08.05.2019 You 2.0: Tunnel Vision When you're hungry, it can be hard to think of anything other than food. When you're desperately poor, you may constantly worry about making ends meet. When you're lonely, you might obsess about making friends. This week, as part of ...
07.29.2019 You 2.0: The 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: how to exercise our empathetic muscles. It's the first episode in ...
07.22.2019 Facts Aren't Enough Sometimes when we believe something, we resist data that can change our minds. This week, we look at how we rely on the people we trust to shape what we believe, and why emotions can be more powerful than facts. ...
07.15.2019 Finding Your Voice At some point in our lives, many of us realize that the way we hear our own voice isn't the way others hear us. This week on Hidden Brain, we look at the relationship between our voices and our identities. ...
07.08.2019 The Fox And The Hedgehog The Greek poet Archilochus wrote that "the fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing." This week, we'll use the metaphor of the fox and the hedgehog as a way to understand the differences between tacticians and ...
07.01.2019 I Buy, Therefore I Am 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 look at how companies create a ...
06.24.2019 The Lazarus Drug More than 70,000 people died of drug overdoses in 2017 — many of them from heroin and other opioids. One of the most widely-used tools to confront this crisis is a drug called naloxone. It can reverse an opioid overdose ...
06.17.2019 Our Animal Instincts Does living with animals really make us healthier? Why do we eat some animals and keep others as pets? This week on Hidden Brain, we talk with psychology professor Hal Herzog about the contradictions embedded in our relationships with animals.
06.10.2019 Me, Myself, and IKEA Are women named Virginia more likely to move to Virginia? Are people with the last name of Carpenter more likely to be carpenters? This week on Hidden Brain, we bring you a favorite 2017 episode about our preference for things ...
06.03.2019 People Like Us Generations of Americans have struggled against segregation. Most of us believe in the ideal of a colorblind society. But what happens when that ideal come up against research that finds colorblindness sometimes leads to worse outcomes?
05.27.2019 More Divided Than Ever? Many of us intuitively feel that the bitter partisanship of American politics is bad for our nation. So should we be concerned about the health of our democracy? This week on Hidden Brain, we revisit two of our favorite conversations ...
05.20.2019 Losing Face It happens to all of us: someone recognizes you on the street, calls you by name, and says hello. You, meanwhile, have no idea who that person is. Researchers say this struggle to read other faces is common. This week ...
05.13.2019 What's Not On The Test Smarts matter. But other factors may play an even bigger role in whether someone succeeds. This week, we speak with Nobel Prize-winning economist James Heckman about the skills that predict how you'll fare in life. We'll also look at programs ...
05.06.2019 Creating God If you've taken part in a religious service, have you ever stopped to think about how it all came to be? How did people become believers? Where did the rituals come from? And what purpose does it all serve? This ...
04.29.2019 A Dramatic Cure Placebos belong in clinical trials, not in the doctor's office. That's the conventional wisdom, anyway. This week, we ask what placebos might teach us about healing.
04.22.2019 Why No One 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 ...
04.15.2019 The Sorting Hat The desire to find our tribe is universal. We like to know who we are and where we belong. This fascination has led to a thriving industry built on the marketing and sale of personality tests. These tests offer individuals ...
04.08.2019 Radically Normal For generations, living openly as a gay person in the United States was difficult, and often dangerous. But there's been a dramatic change in public attitudes toward gay people. This week, we explore one of the most striking transformations of ...
04.01.2019 Don't Panic! Chaos is a part of all of our lives. Sometimes we try to control it. And other times, we just have to live with it. On this week's Hidden Brain, we bring you two of our favorite stories about coping ...
03.25.2019 What Twins Tell Us Twin studies aren't just for twins. They're a paradigm for all of us, a way to explore an old question: how much are we shaped by our genes, and how much by our environment?
03.18.2019 Never Go To Vegas All social classes have unspoken rules. From A-list celebrities to teachers, doctors, lawyers, and journalists — there are social norms that govern us, whether we realize it or not. This week on Hidden Brain, we look celebrity culture, as well ...
03.11.2019 Unreal Sex From stone statues to silicone works of art, we have long sought solace and sex from inanimate objects. Time and technology have perfected the artificial lover: today we have life-size silicone love dolls so finely crafted they feel like works ...
03.04.2019 For Sale, By Owner You own your body. So should you be able to sell parts of it? This week, we explore the concept of "repugnant transactions" with the man who coined the term, Nobel Prize- winning economist Al Roth. He says repugnant transactions ...
03.01.2019 Radio Replay: Playing The Gender Card Annie Duke was about to win $2 million. It was 2004, and she was at the final hand of the World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions. But as a woman at a table full of men, she wasn't sure ...
02.25.2019 Better Than Cash Our modern world is saturated with awards. From elementary school classrooms to Hollywood to the hallways of academia, there's no shortage of prizes. But — do they work?
02.18.2019 Emma, Carrie, Vivian The eugenicists were utopians, convinced that they were doing hard but necessary things. And that included making decisions about who could have children.
02.11.2019 Close Enough Today, more and more of us are living through the people on our screens and in our headphones. It's not real, but for many of us, it's close enough.
02.04.2019 One Head, Two Brains It's long been a mystery why the brain is divided. Psychiatrist Iain McGilchrist explains why our brains are split, and how these divisions are reflected in Western society.
02.01.2019 Radio Replay: Creative Differences What happens when we connect with people whose view of the world is very different from our own? We look at the links between diversity, conflict, and creativity.
01.28.2019 Rewinding & Rewriting All of us think back to turning points in our lives, and imagine how things could have unfolded differently. Why do we so often ask ourselves, "What if?"
01.21.2019 The Vegetable Lamb We like to think that science evolves in a way that is...rational. But this isn't always the case. This week, we look at how information and misinformation spread in science.
01.14.2019 The Best Medicine This week, a scientific look at what makes us laugh. Here's a hint — a lot of it isn't funny. We talk to neuroscientist (and stand up comedian) Sophie Scott.
01.07.2019 The Cowboy Philosopher In 2009, an old man died in a California nursing home. His obituary included not just his given name, but a long list of the pseudonyms he'd been known to use. In this episode, we trace the life of Riley ...
12.31.2018 Loss and Renewal Maya Shankar was well on her way to an extraordinary career as a violinist when an injury closed that door. She eventually found a new path forward in a very different field.
12.24.2018 Compassion This week, we look at the science of compassion, and why doing good things for others can make a big difference in your own life.
12.21.2018 Radio Replay: Yum and Yuck We dig into the psychology that determines the foods that make us salivate and the scents that make us squirm.
12.17.2018 Alan Alda Wants Us To Have Better Conversations We've all experienced miscommunications. Their consequences can range from hilarious... to disastrous. The actor Alan Alda — yes, that Alan Alda — wants to help us avoid them.
12.10.2018 Starving the Watchdog When a newspaper shuts down, jobs are lost and local stories go untold. There's also a consequence that's harder to spot, and it has a hefty price tag for residents.
12.03.2018 Spoiler Alert! Why do we always fall for surprise endings? It turns out that our capacity to be easily fooled in books and movies is made possible by a handful of predictable mental shortcuts. We talk this week with Vera Tobin, one ...
11.26.2018 A 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 ...
11.23.2018 Radio Replay: Bringing Up Baby We try to translate the mysterious language of babies. And we ask, when should we step back and just let our children be?
11.19.2018 The Edge of Gender Gender is one of the first things we notice about the people around us. But where do our ideas about gender come from? Can gender differences be explained by genes and chromosomes, or are they the result of upbringing, culture ...
11.19.2018 The Edge of Gender Gender is one of the first things we notice about the people around us. But where do our ideas about gender come from? Can gender differences be explained by genes and chromosomes, or are they the result of upbringing, culture ...
11.12.2018 Zipcode Destiny There's a core belief embedded in the story of the United States: the American Dream. This week we discuss the state of that dream with economist Raj Chetty.
11.05.2018 Sounds Like a Winner We're used to the idea that rhetoric sways voters. But what about another element of language: a candidate's voice?
10.29.2018 The Lazarus Drug More than 70,000 people died of drug overdoses last year — many of them from heroin and other opioids. One of the most widely-used tools to confront this crisis is a drug called naloxone. It can reverse an opioid overdose ...
10.26.2018 Radio Replay: Too Little, Too Much Have you ever noticed that when something important is missing in your life, your brain can only seem to focus on that missing thing? On this week's Radio Replay, we bring you a March 2017 story about the phenomenon of ...
10.22.2018 Be The Change "Be the change you wish to see in the world." It's a popular quote that's made its way onto coffee mugs and bumper stickers — but it's not the easiest principle to live. On this week's Hidden Brain, we meet ...
10.15.2018 Voting With Your Middle Finger There is one truth that has endured through the first two years of Donald Trump's presidency: he has kept the support of the core voters who propelled him to the White House. This week on Hidden Brain, we explore two ...

Older episodes

Hidden Brain

What's Hidden Brain about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Hidden Brain episodes:

You 2.0: Our Better Nature

You 2.0: Tunnel Vision

You 2.0: The Empathy Gym

Facts Aren't Enough

Finding Your Voice

The Fox And The Hedgehog

I Buy, Therefore I Am

The Lazarus Drug

Our Animal Instincts

Me, Myself, and IKEA

People Like Us

More Divided Than Ever?

Losing Face

What's Not On The Test

Creating God

A Dramatic Cure

Why No One Feels Rich

The Sorting Hat

Radically Normal

Don't Panic!

What Twins Tell Us

Never Go To Vegas

Unreal Sex

For Sale, By Owner

Radio Replay: Playing The Gender Card

Better Than Cash

Emma, Carrie, Vivian

Close Enough

One Head, Two Brains

Radio Replay: Creative Differences

Rewinding & Rewriting

The Vegetable Lamb

The Best Medicine

The Cowboy Philosopher

Loss and Renewal

Compassion

Radio Replay: Yum and Yuck

Alan Alda Wants Us To Have Better Conversations

Starving the Watchdog

Spoiler Alert!

A Founding Contradiction

Radio Replay: Bringing Up Baby

The Edge of Gender

The Edge of Gender

Zipcode Destiny

Sounds Like a Winner

The Lazarus Drug

Radio Replay: Too Little, Too Much

Be The Change

Voting With Your Middle Finger

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