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Hidden Brain The 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
Crickets And Cannibals: Unpacking The Complicated Emotion Of Disgust
Parth Shah/NPR

Crickets And Cannibals: Unpacking The Complicated Emotion Of Disgust

Imagine seeing a cockroach skitter across your kitchen counter. Does the thought alone gross you out? This week on Hidden Brain, we discuss disgust.

Crickets And Cannibals: Unpacking The Complicated Emotion Of Disgust

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Guys, We Have A Problem: How American Masculinity Creates Lonely Men
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Guys, We Have A Problem: How American Masculinity Creates Lonely Men

Boys get the message quickly: a man is supposed to be strong and independent. That message, researchers say, has widespread consequences for men's social lives and physical health.

Guys, We Have A Problem: How American Masculinity Creates Lonely Men

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Daniel Kahneman On Misery, Memory, And Our Understanding Of The Mind
Eric Lee/NPR

Daniel Kahneman On Misery, Memory, And Our Understanding Of The Mind

Economic theory rests on a simple notion about humans: people are rational. But a half century ago, two psychologists shattered these assumptions.

Daniel Kahneman On Misery, Memory, And Our Understanding Of The Mind

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The Mind Of The Village: Understanding Our Implicit Biases
Luciano Lozano/Getty Images/Ikon Images

The Mind Of The Village: Understanding Our Implicit Biases

A culture of racism can infect us all. On this week's radio show, we discuss the implicit biases we carry that have been forged by the society around us.

The Mind Of The Village: Understanding Our Implicit Biases

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Hidden Brain: Relationship Between Having Babies And The Economy

Americans tend to have more children in a strong economy. Research suggests that conceptions might be a leading economic indicator — meaning declines in conceptions can predict the next downturn.

Hidden Brain: Relationship Between Having Babies And The Economy

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The Double Bind For Women In Leadership

LOS ANGELES, USA - JANUARY 20: People participate in the Women's March rally on January 20, 2018 in Los Angeles, California, United States. (Photo by Morgan Lieberman/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) Anadolu Agency/Getty Images hide caption

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Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

The Double Bind For Women In Leadership

Our culture has long expected that women will be kind, and leaders will be authoritative. So what's a female leader to do when she confronts these conflicting stereotypes?

The Double Bind For Women In Leadership

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Feeding the Green-Eyed Monster: What Happens When Envy Turns Ugly

Envy is a useful tool for social comparison. But sometimes, it can lead us to wicked places. Steve Scott/Getty Images/Ikon Images hide caption

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Steve Scott/Getty Images/Ikon Images

Feeding the Green-Eyed Monster: What Happens When Envy Turns Ugly

Envy is an unflattering, miserable emotion. It can prompt us to improve our lives — and also cause us to feel resentment, rage, and a desire for revenge.

Feeding the Green-Eyed Monster: What Happens When Envy Turns Ugly

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Hidden Brain: A Study Of Airline Delays
Christian Petersen-Clausen/Getty Images

Hidden Brain: A Study Of Airline Delays

Flight delays and late arrivals have gone down since 1990. At the same time, airlines have increased scheduled flight times because flights are taking longer, and more time is spent taxiing.

Hidden Brain: A Study Of Airline Delays

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What's It Like To Be Rich? Ask The People Who Manage Billionaires' Money

Sociologist Brooke Harrington says "the lives of the richest people in the world are so different from those of the rest of us, it's almost literally unimaginable." erhui1979/Getty Images hide caption

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erhui1979/Getty Images

What's It Like To Be Rich? Ask The People Who Manage Billionaires' Money

Several years ago, sociologist Brooke Harrington decided to explore the secret lives of billionaires. What she found, she said, shocked her.

What's It Like To Be Rich? Ask The People Who Manage Billionaires' Money

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When Did Marriage Become So Hard?
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When Did Marriage Become So Hard?

Marriage is hard — and there are signs it's become even harder in recent decades. We examine how long-term relationships have changed, and whether we might improve marriage by asking less of it.

When Did Marriage Become So Hard?

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The Psychological Forces Behind A Cultural Reckoning: Understanding #MeToo

Jana Mestecky (left) poses for a cast photo during production of the play 'Des rats et des hommes,' directed by Israel Horovitz (front, third from left). The photo appeared in the French magazine, L'Avant-Scene in 1994. Mestecky is one of many women who have come forward accusing Israel Horovitz of sexual harassment and assault. Courtesy of Jana Mestecky hide caption

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Courtesy of Jana Mestecky

The Psychological Forces Behind A Cultural Reckoning: Understanding #MeToo

What has changed in our minds and in our culture so that allegations of sexual harassment and assault are being taken so much more seriously than they were in prior decades?

The Psychological Forces Behind A Cultural Reckoning: Understanding #MeToo

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Your Team Made It To The Super Bowl. Now Maybe It's Time For Flu Shot.
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Your Team Made It To The Super Bowl. Now Maybe It's Time For Flu Shot.

A new study finds that counties with teams in the Super Bowl experienced significantly higher influenza deaths for people 65 and older compared to counties that didn't have a team that participated.

Your Team Made It To The Super Bowl. Now Maybe It's Time For Flu Shot.

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Lost In Translation: The Power Of Language To Shape How We View The World
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Lost In Translation: The Power Of Language To Shape How We View The World

Learning new languages can help us understand other cultures and countries. Do the languages we speak also shape our thoughts?

Lost In Translation: The Power Of Language To Shape How We View The World

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Hidden Brain: Researchers Delve Into Improving Concentration
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Hidden Brain: Researchers Delve Into Improving Concentration

Can we improve concentration when our attention is constantly being diverted? Researchers found running electrical current through someone's head helps — but it isn't the most practical solution.

Hidden Brain: Researchers Delve Into Improving Concentration

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The Power Hour

Kim Kardashian and Donald Trump exemplify our contradictory feelings about the rich and famous. As Hidden Brain explores this week, we idolize the powerful, but also relish their downfall. D Dipasupil/WireImage hide caption

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D Dipasupil/WireImage

The Power Hour

This week on Hidden Brain's radio show, we tackled a big topic: power. From our conflicted feelings toward the powerful, to the ways we gain and lose power ourselves, and how power really can corrupt.

The Power Hour

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Alan Alda Wants Us To Have Better Conversations

Alan Alda Jhon Ochoa, Photo-illustration: Renee Klahr/NPR hide caption

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Jhon Ochoa, Photo-illustration: Renee Klahr/NPR

Alan Alda Wants Us To Have Better Conversations

We've all experienced miscommunications. Their consequences can range from hilarious... to disastrous. The actor Alan Alda — yes, that Alan Alda — wants to help us avoid them.

Alan Alda Wants Us To Have Better Conversations

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The Huddled Masses And The Myth Of America

A century ago, many new immigrants to the United States ended up returning home. And it often took a while for those who stayed to learn English and integrate into American society. Drew Angerer/Getty Images hide caption

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The Huddled Masses And The Myth Of America

The United States has always thought of itself as a nation of immigrants. So why has immigration been such a controversial topic throughout our nation's history?

The Huddled Masses And The Myth Of America

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Study: Great Recession Led To Fewer Deaths
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Study: Great Recession Led To Fewer Deaths

Recessions are painful for a variety of reasons. A new study shows that during the Great Recession, mortality rates declined faster in areas where the unemployment grew.

Study: Great Recession Led To Fewer Deaths

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American Democracy: "Productive Conflict," Or A Dumpster Fire?

It may feel like political divisions are deeper than ever before. But historian David Moss argues our democracy has been tested many times — and has proven resilient. Anadolu Agency/Getty Images hide caption

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American Democracy: "Productive Conflict," Or A Dumpster Fire?

The tone of American politics can be so nasty that it may sometimes feel like our democracy is falling apart. Historian David Moss says it's more resilient than we think.

American Democracy: "Productive Conflict," Or A Dumpster Fire?

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Radio Replay: Fresh Starts

A young Maya Shankar. Courtesy of Maya Shankar hide caption

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Courtesy of Maya Shankar

Radio Replay: Fresh Starts

Unpredictable things happen to us all the time. On this Radio Replay, we mark the new year with two of our favorite stories of loss and the change it brings.

Radio Replay: Fresh Starts

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Our Mental Space, Under Attack
Otto Steininger/Getty Images/Ikon Images

Our Mental Space, Under Attack

Have you ever opened your computer with the intention of sending an email and then an hour passes by? On this episode, we discuss the strategies media companies use to hijack our attention.

Our Mental Space, Under Attack

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The Haunting Effects Of Going Days Without Sleep
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The Haunting Effects Of Going Days Without Sleep

Decades ago, Randy Gardner stayed awake for 11 days. He broke a record in the process, but the teenage stunt has come back to haunt him. At 71, he offers wisdom about staying up past your bedtime.

The Haunting Effects Of Going Days Without Sleep

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