Podcast · 94 episodes
Hidden Brain
by Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam · English
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.
Latest episodes
How to Make a Difference: Part 2“How to Make a Difference, Part 2” argues that the key to changing your life, groups, or nations is agency: an internal belief that your actions can make a difference.28 Sep 2026 · 49 min
How to Make a Difference: Part 1“How to Make a Difference: Part 1” explores why some people act on opportunities while others feel stuck, focusing on learned helplessness, explanatory styles (optimism vs pessimism), and the…21 Sep 2026 · 48 min
Why Conversations Go WrongHow everyday misunderstandings arise from “conversational style” (pace, pauses, directness/indirectness, turn-taking, tone, humor cues), and how those mismatches can cause conflict, hurt feelings,…14 Sep 2026 · 1 h 39 min
All episodes
How to Make a Difference: Part 2“How to Make a Difference, Part 2” argues that the key to changing your life, groups, or nations is agency: an internal belief that your actions can make a difference.28 Sep 2026 · 49 min · 22 chapters
How to Make a Difference: Part 1“How to Make a Difference: Part 1” explores why some people act on opportunities while others feel stuck, focusing on learned helplessness, explanatory styles (optimism vs pessimism), and the…21 Sep 2026 · 48 min · 17 chapters
Why Conversations Go WrongHow everyday misunderstandings arise from “conversational style” (pace, pauses, directness/indirectness, turn-taking, tone, humor cues), and how those mismatches can cause conflict, hurt feelings,…14 Sep 2026 · 1 h 39 min · 41 chapters
Blowing Up Your LifeHidden Brain explores “jolts” (unexpected moments) that knock people out of autopilot and create clarity about what to do next—especially in work and career decisions.7 Sep 2026 · 1 h 26 min · 39 chapters
The Things We Don't SayHidden Brain episode “The Things We Don’t Say” argues that people often don’t say what they mean (hedging, euphemisms, euphemistic “lies”) because language does two jobs: conveys information and…31 Aug 2026 · 50 min · 17 chapters
What Art Does For Your BrainHow music, painting, dance, and storytelling affect the brain and health—calming stress, boosting mood, improving emotion regulation, and potentially reducing depression and dementia risk.24 Aug 2026 · 49 min · 24 chapters
How to Be A Better PartnerHow people’s perceptions of partners—shaped by projection, wishful thinking, and insecurity—can distort what they notice and how they behave, creating relationship outcomes that feel like “reality.”…17 Aug 2026 · 1 h 26 min · 30 chapters
How Feelings Make Us SmarterHow emotions improve thinking and decision-making, and how “emotional intelligence” helps people read emotional cues, regulate feelings, and succeed socially, academically, and at work.10 Aug 2026 · 48 min · 21 chapters
You Are Not OrdinaryHow people construct meaning through stories—especially the “hero’s journey”—and how that narrative style can improve psychological well-being.27 Jul 2026 · 1 h 35 min · 40 chapters
How to Combat PainHow pain is “constructed” by the brain and shaped by context, not simply by tissue damage; argues for a biopsychosocial approach to combat chronic pain.20 Jul 2026 · 50 min · 19 chapters
Changing Our Mental MapsHow “mental maps” (predictions and narratives our brains build to save effort) can become inaccurate or self-perpetuating, leading to misdirection in real life and rumination in relationships and…13 Jul 2026 · 1 h 34 min · 40 chapters
Waking Up Your Spiritual Brain: Part 2The episode argues that cultivating spirituality can “wake up” the brain—shifting people from an achieving, probability-based mindset to an awakened mindset that perceives meaning, guidance, and…6 Jul 2026 · 1 h 33 min · 33 chapters
Stepping Out of the ShadowsThe episode explains how the brain’s negativity bias makes people over-weight bad experiences, mistakes, and threats, and how framing (describing outcomes as “saved” vs “lost,” “survival” vs…22 Jun 2026 · 1 h 29 min · 32 chapters
A Secret Source of ConnectionHidden Brain explores “transcendence” and whether adults can access the awe/connection many feel as children.15 Jun 2026 · 50 min · 18 chapters
Who Are You, Really?The episode explores why “knowing yourself” can feel like a mirage, using the Harry Potter Mirror of Erised as a metaphor for seductive but misleading self-images.8 Jun 2026 · 1 h 37 min · 38 chapters
Unleashing Your CreativityHow creativity and “muse-like” inspiration arise from unconscious brain processes, often during relaxation, distraction, walking, showering, commuting, and especially sleep/REM.1 Jun 2026 · 53 min · 22 chapters
The Past is Never DeadHow culture and history shape modern thinking and behavior, arguing that “the past is never dead.” The episode links timekeeping (clocks), family and marriage rules (Catholic Church), market…25 May 2026 · 52 min · 20 chapters
The Empathy GymEmpathy as a “gym” that can build kindness, but also has costs and can become parochial or even harmful in modern, anonymous, high-stress settings.18 May 2026 · 1 h 29 min · 29 chapters
The Cowboy PhilosopherHidden Brain’s “The Cowboy Philosopher” follows Richard Riley Shepard, a musician and conman whose decades-long obsession produced an enormous, hand-indexed encyclopedia of American folk music—while…11 May 2026 · 1 h 29 min · 33 chapters
Radical Acceptance“Radical Acceptance” argues that design thinking for a meaningful life starts with accepting reality as it is (acceptance as “step zero”), not with resisting it or bargaining with it.4 May 2026 · 1 h 30 min · 41 chapters
Designing a Life that MattersHow to design a meaningful life when old rules stop working—using Michael Phelps’ post-Olympic depression and Stanford design-thinking research to challenge “fulfillment” and “impact” as the only…27 Apr 2026 · 51 min · 27 chapters
Do You Feel Loved?The episode explores why people often don’t feel loved even when they are loved, and how common “love strategies” (tests, manipulation, performance, hiding flaws) can create distance instead of…20 Apr 2026 · 1 h 33 min · 48 chapters
How to Change the WorldWhether violence or nonviolent resistance is more effective at producing radical political change, and why; includes how nonviolent campaigns succeed, when they fail, and psychological/cultural myths…13 Apr 2026 · 1 h 31 min · 32 chapters
The Debt TrapThe psychology of debt—how mental biases, marketing tactics, and economic shocks can trap people even when they try to do “everything right,” and how to regain financial freedom.6 Apr 2026 · 1 h 40 min · 39 chapters