Accessibility links
Hidden Brain Recent episodes of Hidden Brain podcast can now be found at hiddenbrain.org. Hidden Brain helps curious people understand the world-– and themselves. Using science and storytelling, Hidden Brain's host Shankar Vedantam reveals the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, the biases that shape our choices, and the triggers that direct the course of our relationships.

Hidden BrainHidden Brain

A conversation about life's unseen patterns
The Halo Effect

Patty Ramge leans against her Ford Pinto in 1978. Since then, the car has become one of the most infamous vehicles in American history, known for a design that made it vulnerable in low-speed accidents. Bettmann/Bettmann Archive hide caption

toggle caption
Bettmann/Bettmann Archive

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 were burned to death. This week on Hidden Brain, we talk to a former Ford insider who could have voted to recall the Pinto years before the Ulrich girls were killed — but didn't. And we ask, is it possible to fairly evaluate our past actions when we know how things turned out?

The Halo Effect: Why It's So Difficult To Understand The Past

Listen · 54:54
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/904660038/915337664" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Why Nobody Feels Rich

Social psychologist Keith Payne says we have a bias toward comparing ourselves to people who have more than us, rather than those who have less Marcus Butt/Getty Images/Ikon Images hide caption

toggle caption
Marcus Butt/Getty Images/Ikon Images

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 envious. Social psychologist Keith Payne says we tend to compare ourselves with those who have more than us, but rarely with those who have less. This week, we revisit our 2019 episode on the psychology of income inequality, and how perceptions of our own wealth shape our lives.

Why Nobody Feels Rich: The Psychology Of Inequality

Listen · 33:22
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/912749547/912752774" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Secret Friends
japatino/Getty Images

Secret Friends

Where is the line between what is real and what is imaginary? It seems like an easy question to answer: if you can see it, hear it, or touch it, then it's real, right? But what if this way of thinking is limiting one of the greatest gifts of the mind? This week, we meet people who experience the invisible as real, and learn how they hone their imaginations to see the world with new eyes.

Secret Friends: Tapping Into The Power Of Imagination

Listen · 51:59
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/799963509/800211211" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
The Fee-for-Service Monster
sorbetto/Getty Images

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 the American model of medicine, and makes the case for a different way forward.

Slaying The 'Fee-for-Service Monster' Of American Healthcare

Listen · 52:11
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/908728981/909835755" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Finding Meaning At Work: How We Shape And Think About Our Jobs
Malte Mueller/Getty Images/fStop

Finding Meaning At Work: How We Shape And Think About Our Jobs

Finding a new job may be the solution to your woes at work. But there may also be other ways to get more out of your daily grind. This week on Hidden Brain, we explore ways to find meaning at work.

Finding Meaning At Work: How We Shape And Think About Our Jobs

Listen · 50:30
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/760255265/760280106" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
You 2.0: Empathy Gym
alicemoi/Getty Images/RooM RF

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 episode about how to exercise our empathy muscles.

You 2.0: Empathy Gym

Listen · 52:30
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/907943965/908005435" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
You 2.0: WOOP, WOOP!
Jutta Kuss/Getty Images/fStop

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 Oettingen about how we can make our goals more attainable.

You 2.0: WOOP, WOOP!

Listen · 20:16
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/904680577/904693312" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
You 2.0: Loss And Renewal

A young Maya Shankar. Courtesy of Maya Shankar hide caption

toggle caption
Courtesy of Maya Shankar

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 Maya, in which she shares how she found a new path forward after losing an identity she loved.

You 2.0: Loss And Renewal

Listen · 25:55
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/902891952/903184879" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
You 2.0: Fresh Starts

Derek Amato became a musical savant after a traumatic accident. Derek Amato hide caption

toggle caption
Derek Amato

You 2.0: Fresh Starts

Unpredictable things happen to us all the time. As part of our annual You 2.0 series on personal growth and reinvention, we revisit two of our favorite stories of loss and the change it brings.

You 2.0: Fresh Starts

Listen · 50:30
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/904715184/904720261" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
You 2.0: The Mind's Eye
vndrpttn/Getty Images

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 to affect our behavior.

You 2.0: The Mind's Eye

Listen · 47:23
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/900994753/900994779" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
You 2.0: Our Pursuit of Happiness
Malte Mueller/Getty Images/fStop

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 happiness researcher Elizabeth Dunn, who explains how to fight the treadmill feeling.

You 2.0: Our Pursuit of Happiness

Listen · 51:51
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/897673162/898703126" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Edge Effect
Nick Shepherd/Getty Images/Ikon Images

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 to cultivate creativity. Researchers have found that people with deep connections to those from other countries and cultures often see benefits in terms of their creative output. This week, we revisit a favorite 2018 episode about the powerful connection between the ideas we dream up and the people who surround us, and what it really takes to think outside the box.

Creativity And Diversity: How Exposure To Different People Affects Our Thinking

Listen · 38:03
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/895858974/895871201" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
In The Heat Of The Moment
Fanatic Studio/Gary Waters/SCIEN/Getty Images/Science Photo Libra

In The Heat Of The Moment

In a fit of anger or in the grip of fear, many of us make decisions that we never would have anticipated. This week, we look at situations that make us strangers to ourselves — and why it's so difficult to remember what these "hot states" feel like once the moment is over.

In The Heat Of The Moment: How Intense Emotions Transform Us

Listen · 56:03
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/783495595/784296128" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
The Untold Story Of Lyndie B. Hawkins
Sean Gladwell/Getty Images

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 it is not the book Shepherd intended to write. In her original drafts, Shepherd, a white author, created a Lyndie who was Vietnamese-American, and dealing with issues of race in the deep South. This week we look at what it means to be a storyteller in a time of caustic cultural debate and ask when, if ever, is it okay to tell a story that is not your own?

Culture Wars And The Untold Story Of Lyndie B. Hawkins

Listen · 51:57
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/890610437/893203961" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Romeo & Juliet In Rwanda

Actors reading during the recording of an episode of the radio soap opera "Musekeweya" in Kigali, produced by the NGO Radio La Benevolencija. Twice a week, people all around Rwanda gather in groups to listen together. Stephanie Aglietti/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Stephanie Aglietti/AFP/Getty Images

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 take us on a journey from Budapest to the hills of Rwanda.

Romeo & Juliet In Rwanda: How A Soap Opera Sought To Change A Nation

Listen · 50:20
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/890539487/890540356" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
The Night That Lasted A Lifetime

At seventeen years old, Fred Clay was sentenced to prison for a crime he did not commit. Various flawed ideas in psychology were used to determine his guilt. Ken Richardson/Ken Richardson hide caption

toggle caption
Ken Richardson/Ken Richardson

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 the killer. This week on Hidden Brain, we go back four decades to uncover the harm that arises when flawed ideas from psychology are used to determine that a teenager should spend the rest of his life behind bars.

The Night That Lasted A Lifetime: How Psychology Was Misused In Teen's Murder Case

Listen · 53:54
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/887179151/887973808" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
The Founding Contradiction

Thomas Jefferson owned hundreds of slaves, yet he also wrote that "all men are created equal." How did he square the contradictions between his values and his everyday life? ericfoltz/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
ericfoltz/Getty Images

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 of slaves, and fathered six children by an enslaved woman. As we mark Independence Day this week, we return to a 2018 episode with Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Annette Gordon-Reed. We explore the contradictions in Jefferson's life — and how those contradictions might resonate in our own lives.

The Founding Contradiction: Thomas Jefferson's Stance On Slavery

Listen · 47:28
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/884634146/884796139" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Buy, Borrow, Steal

Economist Amir Sufi says debt plays a bigger role in recessions than we typically recognize. erhui1979/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
erhui1979/Getty Images

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 is deeply flawed. He argues that by encouraging "sugar-rush" solutions, the nation is putting poor and middle-class Americans and the entire economy at even greater risk. This week we look at the role of debt as a hidden driver of recessions, and how we might create a more stable system.

Buy, Borrow, Steal: How Debt Became The 'Sugar-Rush' Solution To Our Economic Woes

Listen · 50:40
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/877401074/881820488" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
The Mind Of The Village: Understanding Our Implicit Biases
Luciano Lozano/Getty Images/Ikon Images

The Mind Of The Village: Understanding Our Implicit Biases

This week on Hidden Brain, research about prejudices so deeply buried, we often doubt their existence. We'll begin with police shootings of unarmed Black men. We also look at how biases affect judges.

The Mind Of The Village: Understanding Our Implicit Biases

Listen · 50:30
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/880379282/880467634" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
A Rap on Trial

Olutosin Oduwole at his home in New Jersey in 2016. Shankar Vedantam /NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Shankar Vedantam /NPR

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 research on an alleged form of bias in the justice system. This week, we revisit that story, and explore how public perceptions of rap music may have played a role in the prosecution of a man named Olutosin Oduwole.

Rap on Trial: How An Aspiring Musician's Words Led To Prison Time

Listen · 56:20
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/876485823/876495368" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
The Air We Breathe
Santiago Mejia/The San Francisco Chronicle/Getty Images

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 police officers. In this bonus episode, we revisit our 2017 look at implicit bias and how a culture of racism can infect us all.

The Air We Breathe: Implicit Bias And Police Shootings

Listen · 36:26
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/876073130/876079143" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Graduating High School During A Recession Could Be A Good Thing, Study Finds

Recessions typically damage workers' long-term earnings. NPR's Hidden Brain podcast explains how a study found that students graduating from high school during a recession may be an exception.

Graduating High School During A Recession Could Be A Good Thing, Study Finds

Listen · 3:32
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/879041045/879041046" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Browse archive or search npr.org