Tag: Hidden Brain

Useful Delusions

Hidden Brain | 5 April 2021 | 0h 49m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with Shankar Vedantam about his book Useful Delusions: The Power and Paradox of the Self-Deceiving Brain. Discusses and how self-deceptions can bind together marriages, communities, and even entire nations.

The Easiest Person to Fool

Hidden Brain | 1 February 2021 | 0h 53m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with Adam Grant about his book Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know. Describes the magic that unfolds when we challenge our own deeply-held beliefs – we too easily imagine we know more than we do.

A Conspiracy of Silence

Hidden Brain | 30 November 2020 | 0h 59m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with Timur Kuran about ideas from his book Private Truths, Public Lies: The Social Consequences of Preference Falsification. Backgrounds preference falsification – where we pretend to believe the opposite of what we truly think. Offers a frame for understanding the behaviours of tyrants, and modern-day politics.

Bullshit Jobs

Hidden Brain | 3 September 2018 | 0h 45m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with David Graeber about the rise of meaningless, unfulfilling jobs, and how these positions affect the people who hold them. Discusses the ideas in Bullshit Jobs: A Theory.

Buy, Borrow, Steal

Hidden Brain | 22 June 2020 | 0h 50m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with Sufi Amir about ideas from his book House of Debt. Examines the role of debt as a hidden driver of recessions, and how we might create a more stable system. Argues against stimulus packages and low-interest rates intended to encourage borrowing to spend.

When Things Click

Hidden Brain | 4 February 2020 | 0h 50m | Listen Later | iTunes
Sets out the benefits of learning without external praise or criticism. Uses examples of clicker training with dolphins, dogs and humans to show that learning is fastest with value-less feedback that keeps the student focused internally on the process. Many implications for education and parenting.

The Sorting Hat

Hidden Brain | 15 April 2019 | 0h 50m | Listen Later | iTunes
The desire to know who we are and where we belong has led to a thriving industry built on the marketing and sale of personality tests. These tests offer individuals – and, increasingly, employers – quick and easy insights that can be used to make some of life’s biggest decisions. But most fail to stand up to scientific scrutiny. An exploration of the world of personality testing, and the many ways we assess personality and potential – from the Chinese zodiac to Harry Potter houses to the Myers-Briggs test.

Radically Normal

Hidden Brain | 8 April 2019 | 0h 52m | Listen Later | iTunes
For generations, living openly as a gay person in the United States was difficult, and often dangerous. But there’s been a dramatic change in public attitudes toward gay people. Explores one of the most striking transformations of public attitude ever recorded. Also considers whether the strategies used by gay rights activists hold lessons for other groups seeking change.