539 episodes
Hidden Brain Hidden Brain
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- Science
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4.6 • 38.9K Ratings
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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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Befriending Your Inner Voice
You know that negative voice that goes round and round in your head, keeping you up at night? When that negative inner voice gets switched on, it’s hard to think about anything else. Psychologist Ethan Kross has a name for it: chatter. In this favorite conversation from 2022, we talk with Ethan about how to keep our negative emotions from morphing into chatter.
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Making the World Sparkle Again
Across every domain of our lives, our minds have a tendency to get accustomed to things. In fact, the brain seems evolutionarily designed to focus on the new and unexpected, on novel threats and opportunities. In our daily lives, this means we take wonderful things for granted. We cease to appreciate amazing people, or the good fortune of being healthy. This week, neuroscientist Tali Sharot explains why we get used to things — and how to see with fresh eyes.
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Your Questions Answered: Judson Brewer on Cravings
We all experience cravings. But some cravings become compulsions, leading us to feel powerless over our own wants and needs. In this follow-up episode with Judson Brewer, we answer your questions about how to navigate cravings of all kinds.
If you missed our initial conversation on cravings, be sure to give it a listen! You can find it here: https://hiddenbrain.org/podcast/the-curious-science-of-cravings/ -
Our God-Shaped Brains
Some think of religious faith as just that: a leap of faith. But psychologists are increasingly filling in the gaps in our understanding of how beliefs shape — and are shaped by — the human mind. This week, psychologist Ara Norenzayan explores features in the brain that are tied to our capacity for faith. And he shows how all of us, both religious and non-religious people, can use this knowledge to find more meaning in our lives.
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Why You Feel Empty
Have you ever had an unexplainable feeling of emptiness? Life seems perfect - and yet - something is missing. This week, sociologist Corey Keyes helps us understand where feelings of emptiness come from, how to navigate them and why they're more common than we might assume.
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Why Trying Too Hard Can Backfire On You
Thinking is a human superpower. On a daily basis, thinking and planning and effort bring us innumerable benefits. But like all aspects of human behavior, you can sometimes get too much of a good thing. This week, we talk with philosopher Ted Slingerland about techniques to prevent overthinking, and how we can cultivate the under-appreciated skill of letting go.
Customer Reviews
June 17 show
I like your show, but I believe some of your guests opinions are not valid. Specifically your guest Ara Norezayan’s view in regards to religion seemed to be biased by his own experiences. Most times certain types of religions were forced on people by rulers of the time. Sometimes there were economic incentives. People were killed in wars in the name of God. But the aim may have been gaining power and soldiers understood the main aim while fighting in the name of God. God is just a representation of power and order. But our inclination toward order does not mean that our brains are programmed to believe in God.
Animal experimentation?
Shankar seems like a compassionate individual, which is why I can’t understand how he’s okay with guests — like today’s neuroscientist — referring to animal experiments (in this case monkeys). The episode was on “resparkling” — hardly an important enough reason to warrant experimenting on monkeys. As a host, there are ways to address this issue, but first he has to truly care about it.
Commercials
Hello,
As you may have noticed I ranked this podcast at only 3 stars. Which has nothing to do with the context of the episodes, those are great.
But rather with the fact that you are trying to get the best of both worlds at the cost of your audience. You charge for the podcast, but same time you include commercials. This looks simply unfair and dramatically reduces the pleasure of listening to your episodes. I hope you can reconsider your approach and make it more audience friendly.