Ever land an opportunity through someone you barely know? Sociologist Mark Granovetter found people were more likely to get jobs through ‘weak ties’ than close friends who already share your network. Even brief chats with near-strangers can lift mood and belonging almost as much as close friends do.

What happens when good people are placed in a bad system? In 1971, Philip Zimbardo put students in a mock Stanford jail as guards and prisoners. It was shut down after six days once guards turned cruel.

How much of your day is actually a choice? Psychologist Wendy Wood found 43 percent of daily behavior is habitual, done while your mind is elsewhere. That’s why willpower often fails. The fix is environmental: no junk food in the house, running shoes by the door.

Which words say the most about you: the big ones like love and money, or the ones you never notice? Psychologist James Pennebaker analyzed how people write. He found the tiny function words (pronouns, articles, prepositions) carry the real signal.

Two six-year-olds turned a pile of boards into a bridge over imaginary crocodiles, negotiating rules and taking turns. Then an adult stepped in to show them the ‘right way’ to use the boards, with hammers and nails. Within minutes, psychologist Peter Gray says they went from absorbed to bored.

Plenty of Hollywood movies frame a character’s story as a hero’s journey. What if you did that with your own life? This week, social scientist Ben Rogers on how the stories we tell about our own lives can shape our sense of purpose. apple.co/4wudZkQ

You Are Not Ordinary

Podcast Episode · Hidden Brain · July 27 · 1h 35m

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You remember getting an A in school. But you forget your Ds. Psychologist Harry Bahrick found people recall good grades eighty-nine percent of the time, bad ones only twenty-nine percent. Memory keeps score, but only for the version of you it wants you to see.

What does a 1940s movie star have to do with your wireless headphones? Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil invented frequency hopping during WWII. The Navy ignored it. Decades later it became Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, the kind of leap Sheena Iyengar says comes from colliding fields.

When Jennifer had cold feet before her wedding, her mother reassured her. But years after Jennifer got married, she discovered a secret her mom had withheld. Psychologist Leslie John at Harvard finds that this sort of concealment comes with heavy costs.

Nearly two billion people across the globe live with chronic pain. And psychologist Rachel Zoffness says much of that pain is being mistreated. This week, what's really happening when we experience pain, and how to address it. apple.co/3Rsl3io

How to Combat Pain

Podcast Episode · Hidden Brain · July 20 · 50m

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What would it take to convince you that you committed a crime you don’t remember? For Peter Reilly, it took nearly a full day of interrogation. He was eighteen years old. His case shows that under the wrong conditions, certainty can be constructed under pressure.

“Pain is both physical and emotional one hundred percent of the time.” This week, how a better understanding of pain can open up new possibilities for treatment and healing. www.hiddenbrain.org/podcast/how-...

How to Combat Pain - Hidden Brain Media

This week, we look at what's really happening when we experience pain, and how a better understanding of this process can open up new possibilities for treatment and healing.

hiddenbrain.org

The job loss. The car repair that cost a small fortune. The growing credit card balance. Economists Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir found that financial scarcity taxes the brain the same way hunger does. It consumes mental bandwidth and leaves less room for everything else.

When did you last stop to actually watch a sunset? Psychologist Dacher Keltner finds that experiencing awe makes people feel physically smaller, and their problems less significant. He calls it the "small self effect." Awe was most commonly reported during simple walks outside.

“Our habits are not just habits of behavior. They’re also habits of perception.” This week, we revisit a conversation with psychologist and neuroscientist Norman Farb about how our perceptions of the world can lead us astray. open.spotify.com/episode/2KlD...

Changing Our Mental Maps

Hidden Brain · Episode

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The hike to the summit. The meal you spent hours cooking. The club you had to earn your way into. Researchers call this the effort heuristic: when something costs time, energy, or discomfort, your brain reads that as a signal of worth. The things you’ll value most are usually the hardest to earn.

Psychologist Lisa Miller says that people with spiritual lives are healthier, happier, and more connected to others. But how do we go about exploring that kind of existence? In this week's episode, the second in a two-part series on how to cultivate an awakened brain. apple.co/4h0WlA8

Waking Up Your Spiritual Brain: Part 2

Podcast Episode · Hidden Brain · July 6 · 1h 33m

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Most of us spend years climbing Maslow’s pyramid toward the peak of self-actualization. Stanford’s Dave Evans says that summit is probably out of reach. But there are more paths to fulfillment than you could pursue in multiple lifetimes. How can you fully be who you’re trying to be right now?

When Solitaire Miles was 18, she suffered a stroke. At the hospital, medical staff accused her of being intoxicated. Then her high school principal arrived — a nun named Sister Maura Smith. www.hiddenbrain.org/unsunghero/s...

Solitaire Miles' Story - Hidden Brain Media

When Solitaire was 18, she suffered a stroke. At the hospital, medical staff accused her of being intoxicated. Then her high school principal arrived — a nun named Sister Maura Smith.

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In last week’s episode, we talked with psychologist Lisa Miller about what goes on in the spiritual brain. In the second part of our conversation, we explore what it means to cultivate a mind that is open to the transcendent. open.spotify.com/episode/07t0...

Waking Up Your Spiritual Brain: Part 2

Hidden Brain · Episode

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How many people do you think never recover from a devastating loss? Researchers reviewed roughly a hundred studies and found the answer is about ten percent. Most of us think we’re far more fragile than that. And that assumption keeps us from taking risks we don’t need to avoid.

“It is sustained spiritual life that seems to go hand in hand with a deepening of our awakened awareness.” Last week, we talked with psychologist Lisa Miller about the science of spirituality. Today, we explore what those ideas look like in everyday life. www.hiddenbrain.org/podcast/waki...

Waking Up Your Spiritual Brain: Part 2 - Hidden Brain Media

Last week, we talked with psychologist Lisa Miller about the science of spirituality. Today, we explore what those ideas can look like in everyday life.

hiddenbrain.org

Denial. Anger. Bargaining. Depression. Acceptance. The five stages of grief were developed for terminally ill patients, then became a way to judge whether everyone else is grieving correctly. Grief is one of the most individual experiences a person can have. There is no wrong way to grieve.

During her freshman year of college, Jennifer Novak felt like the world was collapsing around her. One particularly bad day, a stranger stepped in and gave her hope. www.hiddenbrain.org/unsunghero/j...

Jennifer Novak's Story - Hidden Brain Media

During her freshman year of college, Jennifer felt like the world was collapsing around her. One particularly bad day, a stranger stepped in and gave her hope.

hiddenbrain.org

Try explaining exactly how a toilet flushes without making a mess. Most of us can’t, even though we use one daily. Cognitive scientist Phil Fernbach calls this the illusion of explanatory depth: mistaking familiarity for real understanding. The same gap shows up in politics and medicine.

What if the human brain is built not only for survival, but also for transcendence? Psychologist Lisa Miller says that spirituality is a universal human capacity, and that feeling connected to something bigger than ourselves might be essential to a fulfilling life. open.spotify.com/episode/3UpX...

Waking Up Your Spiritual Brain: Part 1

Hidden Brain · Episode

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Most of us think progress starts with a plan: a vision, a five-year map. Dave Evans, who teaches design thinking at Stanford, says it starts with accepting where you are now, including the parts you’d rather not. That’s when you stop fighting what you can’t change and start seeing what you can.

Big exam. Wedding toast. Job interview. The moments where we spiral into uncontrollable what-ifs. Stanford Professor Dave Evans calls his fix “fully engaged, calmly detached.” Give the moment everything you’ve got while it’s happening, then let go once it’s done. What happens next isn’t up to you.

How much do you know about your family’s hard times, not just the happy ones? Psychologists Robyn Fivush and Marshall Duke found the most resilient kids could answer that question. The hard stories might matter as much as the good ones.

During a family trip to New York City, Lia Eastep’s father lost his balance on a crowded subway. The stranger who caught him became a role model for how she hopes to respond when others need help. www.hiddenbrain.org/unsunghero/l...

Lia Eastep's Story - Hidden Brain Media

During a family trip to New York City, Lia's father lost his balance on a crowded subway. The stranger who caught him became a role model for how she hopes to respond when others need help.

hiddenbrain.org