Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.
507 episodes transcribedHave you ever had a job where you had to stop and ask yourself: what am I doing here? If I quit tomorrow, would anyone even notice? This week on Hidde...
The simple "to-do" list may be one of humanity's oldest tools for getting organized. But checklists are also proving essential in many moder...
What does it mean to be an original? As part of our summer series, You 2.0, we talk with psychology professor Adam Grant about innovators and the cha...
Ignorance is bliss, but knowledge is power...right? As part of our summer series, You 2.0, we try to understand why we stick our heads in the sand.
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, we talk...
If you're bilingual or multilingual, you may have noticed that different languages make you stretch in different ways. In this month's Radio Replay, w...
Look down at what you're wearing. You picked out that blue shirt, right? And those sandals — you decided on those because they're comfortable, didn't...
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...
Fake news may seem new, but in reality, it's as old as American journalism. This week, we look at a tension at the heart of news coverage: Should repo...
Why are we so often pulled into memories of the past? This week, two emotions we just can't shake: regret and nostalgia.
As many as 40 percent of students who intend to go to college don't actually show up to their new campuses in the fall. Education researchers call thi...
There can be a lot of psychological noise involved in teaching. But what if we replaced all that mental chit chat....with a click? This week, we explo...
Many parents think they can shape their child into a particular kind of adult. Psychologist Alison Gopnik says the science suggests otherwise. This we...
How many ads have you encountered today? On this week's radio replay, we discuss the insidiousness of advertising in American media. We begin with new...
Olutosin Oduwole was an aspiring rapper and college student when he was arrested in 2007. He was charged with "attempting to make a terrorist thr...
Political correctness. Free speech. Terrorism. On this week's Radio Replay, we look at the language we use around race and religion, and what that lan...
How do you change someone's behavior? Most of us would point to education or persuasion. But what if the answer lies elsewhere? Today we explore a rev...
We all lie. But what separates the average person from the infamous cheaters we see on the news? Dan Ariely says we like to think it's character — but...
When you're hungry, it can be hard to think of anything other than food. When you're desperately poor, you may constantly worry about making ends meet...
Imagine seeing a cockroach skitter across your kitchen counter. Does that thought gross you out? This week, we take an unflinching look at the things...
