Hidden Brain

    Why do I feel stuck? How can I become more creative? What can I do to improve my relationships? If you’ve ever asked yourself these questions, you’re not alone. On Hidden Brain, we help you understand your own mind — and the minds of the people around you. (We're routinely rated the #1 science podcast in the United States.) Hosted by veteran science journalist Shankar Vedantam.

  • Wellness 2.0: Rising to the Occasion

  • Wellness 2.0: Be Yourself

  • How to Be More Creative

  • What Your Online Self Reveals About You

  • The Secret to Gift-Giving

  • How Monsters are Made

  • The Power of Family Stories

  • Emotions 2.0: The Logic of Rage

  • Emotions 2.0: What's Better than Being Happy?

  • Emotions 2.0: The Benefits of Mixed Emotions

  • Emotions 2.0: The Feeling that Moves Us Forward

  • Emotions 2.0: When I Feel What You Feel

  • How to Win People Over

  • What's Hidden in Your Words

  • Sitting With Uncertainty

  • Rewrite Your Money Story

  • You 2.0: Fighting Despair

  • You 2.0: Remember More, Forget Less

  • You 2.0: How To Say No

  • You 2.0: Taking Control of Your Time

  • You 2.0: The Gift of Other People

  • You're Not the Boss of Me!

  • The Cure for Self-Importance

  • Where Truth Lies

  • How To Be Alone

  • Changing Our Mental Maps

  • Out of the Rabbit Hole

  • Befriending Your Inner Voice

  • Making the World Sparkle Again

  • Our God-Shaped Brains

  • Why You Feel Empty

  • Why Trying Too Hard Can Backfire On You

  • Innovation 2.0: Do Less

  • Innovation 2.0: Shortcuts and Speed Bumps

  • Innovation 2.0: The Influence You Have

  • Innovation 2.0: Multiplying the Growth Mindset

  • Innovation 2.0: How Big Ideas Are Born

  • Parents: Keep Out!

  • The Curious Science of Cravings

  • What Is Normal?

  • The Transformative Ideas of Daniel Kahneman

  • Are You Listening?

  • The Ventilator

  • Escaping the Matrix

  • Fear Less

  • US 2.0: Lincoln's Dilemma

  • US 2.0: Not at the Dinner Table

  • US 2.0: Living With Our Differences

  • US 2.0: Win Hearts, Then Minds

  • US 2.0: What We Have In Common

  • Are Your Memories Real?

  • Finding Focus

  • Where Do Feelings Come From?

  • Making the Most of Your Mistakes

  • What Would Socrates Do?

  • How to Believe in Yourself

  • The Ugly Side of Beauty

  • The Mystery of Beauty

  • Healing 2.0: The Power of Apologies

  • Healing 2.0: Disrupting Death

  • Healing 2.0: Life After Loss

  • Healing 2.0: What We Gain from Pain

  • Healing 2.0: Change Your Story, Change Your Life

  • The Enemies of Gratitude

  • Follow the Anomalies

  • How to Spot a Scam

  • Escaping Perfectionism

  • The Secret to Great Teams

  • Outsmarting Yourself

  • How We Live With Contradictions

  • Being Kind to Yourself

  • You 2.0: Make the Good Times Last

  • You 2.0: Slow Down!

  • You 2.0: Your Future Is Now

  • You 2.0: How to Break Out of a Rut

  • The Truth About Honesty

  • Learning From Your Mistakes

  • The Path to Enough

  • The Paradox of Pleasure

  • How Others See You

  • The Best Years of Your Life

  • When to Eat the Marshmallow

  • Between Two Worlds

  • Seeking Serenity: Part 2

  • Seeking Serenity: Part 1

  • Success 2.0: Getting to the Top and Staying There

  • Success 2.0: The Psychology of Self-Doubt

  • Success 2.0: The Obstacles You Don't See

  • Introducing Hidden Brain+

  • Success 2.0: Getting What You Want

  • Success 2.0: Taking the Leap

  • A Secret Source of Connection

  • Remember More, Forget Less

  • Crying Wolf

  • The Snowball Effect

  • Less is More

  • How To Make Amends

  • Made of Honor

  • Revealing Your Unconscious: Part 2

  • Revealing Your Unconscious: Part 1

  • How Your Beliefs Shape Reality

  • Happiness 2.0: The Reset Button

  • Happiness 2.0: Surprising Sources of Joy

  • Happiness 2.0: Cultivating Your Purpose

  • Happiness 2.0: The Only Way Out Is Through

  • Happiness 2.0: The Path to Contentment

  • When You Need It To Be True

  • Persuasion: Part 2

  • Persuasion: Part 1

  • Who's In Your Inner Circle?

  • Who Do You Want To Be?

  • You, But Better

  • How to Complain Productively

  • An Ancient Solution to Modern Problems

  • The Secret to Gift Giving

  • Relationships 2.0: What Makes Relationships Thrive

  • Relationships 2.0: When Did Marriage Become So Hard?

  • Relationships 2.0: An Antidote to Loneliness

  • Relationships 2.0: The Power of Tiny Interactions

  • Relationships 2.0: How To Keep Conflict From Spiraling

  • A Better Way to Worry

  • Thriving in the Face of Contradiction

  • Did I Really Do That?

  • Watch Your Mouth

  • Taking Control of Your Time

  • How to Really Know Another Person

  • Decoding Emotions

  • Making the World a Safer Place

  • You 2.0: How to Open Your Mind

  • You 2.0: Overcoming Stage Fright

  • You 2.0: The Mind's Eye

  • You 2.0: How To See Yourself Clearly

  • You 2.0: Befriending Your Inner Voice

  • Reframing Your Reality: Part 2

  • Reframing Your Reality: Part 1

  • Separating Yourself from the Pack

  • What We Gain from Pain

  • A Founding Contradiction

  • The Premonition

  • Why You're Smarter Than You Think

  • Do Less

  • Money 2.0: Let's Go Shopping!

  • Money 2.0: The Rich and the Rest of Us

  • Money 2.0: Emotional Currency

  • Money 2.0: Why We Bust Our Budgets

  • Money 2.0: Rewrite Your Money Story

  • The Logic of Rage

  • When Doing Right Feels Wrong

  • A Conspiracy of Silence

  • How Rude!

  • Healing Your Heart

  • You Don't Need a Crystal Ball

  • How to Change the World

  • You Can't Hit Unsend

  • The Benefits of Mixed Emotions

  • Putting Our Assumptions to the Test

  • Mind Reading 2.0: Why Conversations Go Wrong

  • Mind Reading 2.0: Our Better Angels

  • Mind Reading 2.0: The Double Standard

  • Mind Reading 2.0: How others see you

  • Mind Reading 2.0: Why did you do that?

  • My Unsung Hero: Sanaa Kerroumi's Story

  • Minimizing Pain, Maximizing Joy

  • What Makes Relationships Thrive

  • My Unsung Hero: Wendy McDowell's Story

  • Changing Behavior, Not Beliefs

  • Choose Carefully

  • Creatures of Habit

  • My Unsung Hero: Justin Horner's Story

  • Bringing Up Baby

  • The Psychology of Self-Doubt

  • My Unsung Hero: Leah Bartell's Story

  • Both Things Can Be True

  • Work 2.0: The One-Room Commute

  • My Unsung Hero: Tony Ludlow's Story

  • Work 2.0: Rebel with a Cause

  • Work 2.0: Life, Interrupted

  • My Unsung Hero: Terri Powers' Story

  • Work 2.0: Game On!

  • Work 2.0: The Obstacles You Don't See

  • We Broke the Planet. Now What?

  • My Unsung Hero: Rick Mangnall's Story

  • The Halo Effect

  • Being Kind to Yourself

  • My Unsung Hero: Jackie Briggs' Story

  • When You Need It To Be True

  • Passion Isn't Enough

  • Introducing My Unsung Hero

  • Group Think

  • Just Sex

  • Where Happiness Hides

  • You 2.0: Regrets, I Have a Few...

  • You 2.0: Did That Really Happen?

  • You 2.0: When Did Marriage Become So Hard?

  • You 2.0: In the Heat of the Moment

  • You 2.0: Cultivating Your Purpose

  • Losing Alaska

  • Stage Fright

  • Playing the Gender Card

  • You, But Better

  • The Influence You Have

  • What Twins Tell Us

  • The Power of Apologies

  • The Power of Mercy

  • What are the Odds?

  • This is Your Brain on Ads

  • Why We Hold on to Things

  • Loss and Renewal

  • Tribes and Traitors

  • Our Noisy Minds

  • The Fake Bride

  • Josh Gitelson: My Unsung Hero

  • One Head, Two Brains

  • Deb Pierce: My Unsung Hero

  • Why Conversations Go Wrong

  • Unsung Hero: A Cold Nevada Night

  • Humor Us

  • An Unfinished Lesson

  • 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

  • The People Like Us

  • Our Better Angels

  • A Hidden Brain Commencement Address

  • The Dramatic Cure

  • The Choices Before Us

  • Starving The Watchdogs

  • A Social Prescription

  • Sex Machines

  • Playing Tight And Loose

  • Close Enough: Living Through Others

  • An Unfinished Lesson

  • Panic In The Street

  • The Bomb That Didn't Explode

  • The Tale of the Cowboy Philosopher

  • The Influence You Have

  • Liar, Liar, Liar

  • Passion Isn't Enough

  • When Things Click

  • Secret Friends

  • Warnings, Warnings Everywhere

  • Emotional Currency

  • On The Knife's Edge

  • Creatures Of Habit

  • Why We Love Surprises

  • Did That Really Happen?

  • Zipcode Destiny

  • In The Heat Of The Moment

  • Counting Other People's Blessings

  • The Ventilator

  • Hungry, Hungry Hippocampus

  • The Talk Market

  • BS Jobs

  • The Monkey Marketplace

  • The Lonely American Man

  • Screaming Into The Void

  • Baby Talk

  • We're All Gonna Live Forever!

  • We're All Gonna Die!

  • You Can't Hit Unsend

  • You 2.0: Decide Already!

  • You 2.0: Deep Work

  • You 2.0: Rebel With A Cause

  • 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

  • Zipcode Destiny

  • Sounds Like a Winner

  • The Lazarus Drug

  • Radio Replay: Too Little, Too Much

  • Be The Change

  • Voting With Your Middle Finger

  • Red Brain, Blue Brain

  • "Man Up"

  • Why Now?

  • Radio Replay: Eyes Wide Open

  • The Cassandra Curse

  • Our Better Nature

  • Bullshit Jobs

  • You 2.0: Check Yourself

  • You 2.0: Originals

  • You 2.0: When Did Marriage Become So Hard?

  • You 2.0: The Ostrich Effect

  • You 2.0: Dream Jobs

  • You 2.0: Rebel With A Cause

  • Radio Replay: Watch Your Mouth

  • Creating God

  • Snooki and the Handbag

  • The Edge Effect

  • Fake News: An Origin Story

  • Radio Replay: Looking Back

  • Summer Melt

  • Hungry, Hungry Hippocampus

  • When Everything Clicks

  • Kinder-Gardening

  • Rewinding & Rewriting

  • Radio Replay: This Is Your Brain On Ads

  • Baby Talk

  • Rap on Trial

  • The Fox and the Hedgehog

  • Emma, Carrie, Vivian

  • Radio Replay: The Weight of Our Words

  • Romeo and Juliet in Kigali

  • Liar, Liar

  • Tunnel Vision

  • Crickets and Cannibals

  • The Lonely American Man

  • Radio Replay: The Mind of the Village

  • Think Fast with Daniel Kahneman

  • Men: 45, Women: 0

  • Counting Other People's Blessings

  • Filthy Rich

  • When Did Marriage Become So Hard?

  • Why Now?

  • Lost in Translation

  • Radio Replay: The Power Hour

  • Alan Alda Wants Us To Have Better Conversations

  • Give Me Your Tired...

  • Radio Replay: I, Robot

  • E Pluribus Unum?

  • Buying Attention

  • Radio Replay: Fresh Starts

  • I'm Right, You're Wrong

  • Radio Replay: Don't Panic!

  • Never Go To Vegas

  • Kinder-Gardening

  • Radio Replay: Loving the Lie

  • The Sorting Hat

  • Radio Replay: Life, Interrupted

  • Money Talks

  • An American Secret

  • Radio Replay: Crime As A Disease

  • Eyes Wide Open: Part 2

  • Eyes Wide Open: Part 1

  • Radio Replay: Prisons of Our Own Making

  • Check Yourself

  • Radio Replay: What's In It For Me?

  • Misbehaving with Richard Thaler

  • The Good Old Days

  • The Edge of Gender

  • Be The Change

  • Just Sex

  • The Ostrich Effect

  • Regrets, I Have A Few...

  • Hiding Behind Free Speech

  • You 2.0: Getting Unstuck

  • You 2.0: Decide Already!

  • You 2.0: WOOP, There It Is

  • You 2.0: Embrace the Chaos

  • You 2.0: Dream Jobs

  • You 2.0: Deep Work

  • Summer Melt

  • Could You Kill A Robot?

  • Losing Face

  • Guessing Games

  • "Is he Muslim?"

  • Rap on Trial

  • In The Air We Breathe

  • Broken Windows

  • Me, Myself, and IKEA

  • Ep. 71: The Fox and the Hedgehog

  • Encore of Ep. 45: What Are The Odds?

  • Ep. 70: Who We Are At 2 A.M.

  • Episode 69: Money Talks

  • Ep. 68: Schadenfacebook

  • Encore of Ep. 35: Creature Comforts

  • Ep. 67: The Hole

  • Ep. 66: Liar, Liar

  • Episode 65: Tunnel Vision

  • Ep. 64: I'm Right, You're Wrong

  • Encore of Ep. 24: Tribes and Traitors

  • Ep. 63: "I'm Not A Terrorist..."

  • Episode 62: On The Knife's Edge

  • Episode 61: Just Sex

  • Encore of Episode 20: Remembering Anarcha

  • Episode 60: Fortress America

  • Episode 59: The Deep Story

  • Episode 58: Pedestals and Guillotines

  • Episode 57: Slanguage

  • Episode 56: Getting Unstuck

  • Encore of Episode 15: Loss and Renewal

  • Encore of Episode 32: The Scientific Process

  • Episode 55: Snooki and the Handbag

  • Episode 54: Panic in the Streets

  • Episode 53: Embrace the Chaos

  • Episode 52: Losing Face

  • Episode 51: What Happened?

  • Encore of Episode 27: Losing Alaska

  • Episode 50: Broken Windows

  • Episode 49: Filthy Rich

  • Episode 48: Men: 44, Women: 0

  • Episode 47: Give Me Your Tired...

  • Episode 46: Blessings in Disguise?

  • Episode 45: What Are The Odds?

  • Trailer: Hidden Brain 2.0

  • Update: #AirbnbWhileBlack

  • Episode 44: Our Politics, Our Parenting

  • Episode 43: The Perils of Power

  • Encore of Episode 21: Stroke of Genius

  • Episode 42: Decide Already!

  • Encore of Episode 11: Forgery

  • Episode 41: Defeated

  • Episode 40: Silver and Gold

  • Encore of Episode 7: Lonely Hearts

  • Episode 39: Vacations

  • Episode 38: Me, Me, Me

  • Episode 37: Smoke & Mirrors

  • Episode 36: Science of Deception

  • Episode 35: Creature Comforts

  • Encore of Episode 13: Terrorism

  • Episode 34: Google at Work

  • Episode 33: Food for Thought

  • Episode 32: The Scientific Process

  • Episode 31: Your Brain on Uber

  • Episode 30: WOOP, There It Is

  • Episode 29: Traffic

  • Episode 28: #AirbnbWhileBlack

  • Episode 27: Losing Alaska

  • Encore of Episode 16: Misbehaving

  • Episode 26: Grit

  • Episode 25: Dream Jobs

  • Episode 24: Tribes and Traitors

  • Episode 23: Boredom

  • Encore of Episode 9: Aziz Ansari on Modern Love

  • Episode 22: Originals

  • Episode 21: Stroke of Genius

  • Episode 20: Remembering Anarcha

  • Episode 19: Dating and Mating

  • Encore of Episode 2: Near Victories

  • Episode 18: The Paradox of Forgiveness

  • Episode 17: Resolutions

  • Episode 16: Misbehaving

  • Encore of Episode 3: Stereotype Threat

  • Episode 15: Loss and Renewal

  • Episode 14: Christmas

  • Episode 13: Terrorism

  • Episode 12: Humor

  • Episode 11: Forgery

  • Episode 10: Thanksgiving

  • Episode 9: Aziz Ansari on Modern Love

  • Episode 8: Back Up Plans

  • Episode 7: Lonely Hearts

  • Episode 6: The Science of Fear

  • Episode 5: Compassion

  • Episode 4: Students and Teachers

  • Episode 3: Stereotype Threat

  • Brain Bonus: Magic Brain

  • Episode 2: Near Victories

  • Episode 1: Switchtracking

  • Hidden Brain: A Sneak Peek

  • Welcome to the Hidden Brain Podcast

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