BRAIN WAVES

• Creative minds. Creativity is good for the soul—and for the brain. A study set out to explore the relationship between creative expressions like music, dance, visual arts—even video games—and the brain’s aging process. To test this question, researchers trained a machine learning tool to detect “brain age gaps” (the difference between predicted brain age and actual age). Then they tested the tool on hundreds of people in creative fields to see how “old” their brain appeared to be. The results? Experts in tango, music, art, and gaming all showed delayed brain aging compared to non-experts, and the more skilled or practiced someone was, the bigger the delay in brain age. In the bigger picture, this suggests that creativity isn’t just fun — it could be a powerful way to protect brain health. So go ahead, bust a move.

• Extreme. How do extremists see the world? Common sense might say they feel it’s a threatening place. But new research (co-authored by former Hidden Brain guest Jer Clifton) found that’s not always true. Clifton and his team aimed to find how terrorists and extremists actually view the world. Across seven studies with over 2,200 participants (who ranged from imprisoned terrorists to people who endorsed the January 6th insurrection), they measured different beliefs, and then ran various interventions, including a ten-day reflection exercise. They found that extremists consistently scored low on “meaningful world belief,” the idea that most things in life matter. In other words, it’s not necessarily that extremists see the world as more threatening than the rest of us, but maybe that they feel it’s less meaningful. But surprisingly, when researchers manipulated this belief with an intervention (for example, asking them to take a photo of something that had “value, importance, or meaning” every day for 10 days) participants saw the world as more meaningful—and their violent intentions dropped. “In short, we seem to have discovered a new way of decreasing violent extremism in society,” said Clifton.

• Connect. What keeps us from taking a moment to help someone in need? We explore the “prosociality paradox,” and how to overcome this barrier. Listen to learn more.

ON THE HIDDEN BRAIN PODCAST

You Are Not Ordinary: Stories about unlikely heroes have captivated people for thousands of years. This week, social scientist Ben Rogers explores why the “hero’s journey” resonates so deeply, and how the stories we tell about our own lives can shape our sense of purpose. He explains why seeing ourselves as the protagonists of our own stories may help us face challenges with greater confidence. Then, on Your Questions Answered, psychologist Jay Van Bavel returns to respond to listeners’ comments and questions about group identities.

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ON THE MY UNSUNG HERO PODCAST

Annabelle Gurwitch’s Story: After Annabelle was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, a volunteer living with the same diagnosis offered advice that changed the way she saw the future.

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Don’t forget to send us the story of your unsung hero! Record a voice memo on your phone and email it to myunsunghero@hiddenbrain.org.

ON YOUTUBE: YOUR MONEY SCRIPT

Ever wonder why you make the choices you do with money? Beneath the surface, many of us are guided by hidden “scripts”—patterns shaped by our past experiences and perspectives—that quietly influence our habits, decisions, and financial behaviors. Curious what your money script might be? Watch the video to find out.

MIND GAMES

Sam’s mother has four children:

April, May, June, and ...

What is the name of the fourth child?

LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE

What do the letter “t” and an island have in common?

The answer: They’re both in the middle of water.

MOMENT OF JOY

An internet time machine

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BRAIN WAVES

• Get mad. No one likes being angry — well, maybe some of us — but as unpleasant as anger can be, there are times it can also be useful. A study set out to test whether anger might help people reach their goals when certain obstacles are in the way. Across seven experiments, researchers induced anger using different tasks, or images (one of the images included an angry person pointing, for example). Then they measured how people performed on various challenges, like solving hard puzzles, playing video games, and even voting in contentious elections. The results showed that angry participants often persisted longer on a task, reacted faster, and took more decisive action compared to people in neutral states. In short, anger seemed to sharpen focus and boost effort. Like a Swiss Army knife, the study reported, “different emotions are best suited to solve specific problems.”

• Crowdsourcing. What drives social anxiety? A study looked at whether social anxiety changes how people perceive others approaching, both individuals and in crowds. Researchers used an animation technique to simulate someone walking, then asked the study subjects to track where they thought the people were moving. More anxious participants consistently judged walkers — even those angled away from them— as coming straight at them. They extended this bias to crowds, too. In other words, social anxiety makes you see the world differently and might even make the world feel more threatening than it really is.

• Money problems. We like to think that good financial decisions come down to discipline and basic math. But the psychology of money turns out to be deeply complicated. Listen to learn more.

ON THE HIDDEN BRAIN PODCAST

How to Combat Pain: Pain feels like a simple message from the body. If your elbow hurts, there must be something wrong with your elbow. If your back is painfully stiff, you need some work done on your back. But psychologist Rachel Zoffness says our minds play a much larger role in our experience of pain than many of us realize. 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.

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ON YOUTUBE: THE COMPARISON GAME

Why do we compare ourselves to others, and what effect does this have on our lives? In this video, we explore the psychology of social comparison — both upward and downward.

MIND GAMES

What do the letter “t” and an island have in common?

LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE

A dad is 42 years old, and his son is 6. So, in how many years will the father’s age be four times his son’s age?

The answer: In 6 years, the Father will be 48, and the son will be 12, making 42 = 4 × 12.

MOMENT OF JOY

Happy popsicle season

Have an idea for Hidden Brain? A story you want to share with us? Send an email to ideas@hiddenbrain.org. Listen to us on Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music or your favorite podcast platform.

BRAIN WAVES

• More money, please. More money doesn’t always mean more happiness, but we sometimes make big life decisions guided by that idea. Researchers wanted to unpack this behavior, so they ran an experiment where they first asked people how much a 20% raise would boost their life satisfaction. Then they presented some of those participants with evidence to the contrary: a synthesis of research that finds a 20% income increase boosts life satisfaction by only about one point on a 0–100 scale. The study found that people wildly overestimate the happiness boost from more income, especially for themselves. But once presented with evidence about how much happier money actually makes us, they dialed back their beliefs. They also became less likely to choose a higher-paying job option when it came with trade-offs like longer hours, worse commutes, or less sleep. The bottom line? We’re not great at predicting what will make us happy, and we tend to overestimate how happy money will make us when we make big decisions.

• Talk to me. We’ve talked on the show about the power of meaningful conversations, but how do we get a little more comfortable going beyond everyday chit-chat? Over at Time magazine, a handful of researchers (and former Hidden Brain guests) weigh in on the “how-to”s of having more meaningful conversations. One tip? “Meaningful conversations usually require a small leap of faith—a small moment of courage,” said Alison Wood Brooks. “Someone has to go first.” Most people want to connect more than they let on, but they’re not sure if the feeling is mutual. Be the one to make the first move. But also, meaningful conversations remain a balancing act: resist the urge to go too deep too fast, because it can backfire. “It’s a little scary to ask about too much, too quick,” said Arthur Aron. Read the full story here.

• Do you know who I am? You’re not the same person with your friends as you are with your co-workers or your kids. So who are you, really? Listen to learn more.

ON THE HIDDEN BRAIN PODCAST

Changing Our Mental Maps: As we move through the world, it’s easy to imagine we’re processing everything that happens around us and then deciding how to respond. But psychologist and neuroscientist Norman Farb says our brains actually navigate the world by coming up with mental maps. These maps act like an autopilot system, allowing us to navigate our lives more efficiently. But sometimes, they can lead us astray, leaving us stuck on a path of negativity and unhappiness. This week, in a favorite episode from 2024, we talk with Norman Farb about how we can update our internal maps and see the world more clearly. Then, Dave Evans answers your questions about radical acceptance.

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ON THE MY UNSUNG HERO PODCAST

Solitaire Miles’ Story: 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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Don’t forget to send us the story of your unsung hero! Record a voice memo on your phone and email it to myunsunghero@hiddenbrain.org.

MIND GAMES

A dad is 42 years old, and his son is 6. So, in how many years will the father’s age be four times his son’s age?

LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE

Two people have $100 in total. One has $40 more than the other. How much does each have?

The answer: $30 and $70

MOMENT OF JOY

The World Cup is coming to an end—time to tune into the World Pup.

Have an idea for Hidden Brain? A story you want to share with us? Send an email to ideas@hiddenbrain.org. Listen to us on Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music or your favorite podcast platform.

BRAIN WAVES

• The power of belief. We’ve all heard of the placebo effect, but how powerful is it, exactly? A new study wanted to see whether placebos could improve memory, stress, and physical performance in older adults — even when people were aware that they were taking them. Researchers recruited 90 healthy older adults and split them into three groups: no treatment, a deceptive placebo group (told the pill had active ingredients but it didn’t), and an open‑label placebo group (told upfront the pill was fake but might trigger mind‑body benefits). Over three weeks, participants completed questionnaires and took tests measuring short‑term memory, selective attention, and physical performance. The results were surprising: both placebo groups improved, but the people who knew the pill was fake generally improved the most—showing better memory, lower stress, and a greater boost in physical performance. The placebo effect might work even when we’re aware of it.

• Unfinished business. Has your brain ever refused to let go of an unfinished task on your to-do list? There’s a name for that. The Zeigarnik effect is the idea that we remember unfinished or interrupted tasks better than completed ones. The psychologist it’s named after, Bluma Zeigarnik, first studied the phenomenon in the 1920s after hearing fellow psychologist Kurt Lewin describe a waiter who remembered unpaid orders perfectly but forgot them once the bill was settled. Zeigarnik ran experiments and published her findings in 1927, showing that incomplete tasks can create mental tension that keeps details about the task more memorable. The effect is related to our need for cognitive closure — the desire to resolve ambiguity and close the loop on something. So when you have unfinished business, your brain fixates on it until it’s complete. It’s the same reason cliffhangers work: an interrupted storyline sticks in your head and draws you back for more.
  

• By design. We tell ourselves that meaning comes from impact, passion, or finding the “one right path.” But these beliefs can leave us feeling stuck — even when our lives look perfectly fine on paper. Listen to learn more.

ON THE HIDDEN BRAIN PODCAST

Waking Up Your Spiritual Brain: Part 2: 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. Miller explains why moments of connection, spiritual practices, and even periods of suffering can sometimes open the door to deeper meaning and growth. And on Your Questions Answered, behavioral scientist Dave Evans returns to respond to your comments on designing a meaningful life.

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ON THE MY UNSUNG HERO PODCAST

Solitaire Miles’ Story: 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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Don’t forget to send us the story of your unsung hero! Record a voice memo on your phone and email it to myunsunghero@hiddenbrain.org.

ON YOUTUBE: WHY WE PAY TO SUFFER

Pain is meant to be a warning. A hot stove, a sharp thorn—our brains signal for us to pull back. So why do we sometimes bypass this signal and embrace the things that hurt us? We crave painfully spicy foods, watch terrifying movies, and get on rollercoaster rides that have us screaming for our lives. In this video, we explore the strange relationship between pain and pleasure, and what it reveals about why the hardest things in life are often the most meaningful.

MIND GAMES

Two people have $100 in total. One has $40 more than the other. How much does each have?

LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE

I am a number, but when you add ‘G’ to me, I go away. What number am I?

The answer: Gone

MOMENT OF JOY

Treemendous.

Have an idea for Hidden Brain? A story you want to share with us? Send an email to ideas@hiddenbrain.org. Listen to us on Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music or your favorite podcast platform.

BRAIN WAVES

• Who’s the boss? In the era of the world’s first trillionaire, wealthy heads of companies often make the news for earning significantly more than their employees. But surprisingly, people don’t always recoil from giant CEO pay gaps — sometimes they actually embrace them. Researchers wanted to understand why some employees are more accepting than others of extreme CEO–employee pay inequality. Across four experiments, they measured how a worker’s perceived similarity to a CEO — in terms of social status, general similarities, and also alma mater— shaped that worker’s attitudes toward their pay and toward policies that would reduce inequality. The study found that when employees felt they shared similarities with a CEO, they were more accepting of high CEO pay. This was largely because that similarity boosted feelings of motivation, the study said.

• Can you hear me okay? Ever had trouble communicating with a colleague? Try being out of this world. Researchers wanted to understand how communication delays — like the ones between Earth and space — affect teamwork in big, high‑pressure organizations. To study this, they ran simulated NASA missions using volunteers inside the HERA capsule while “Mission Control” teams at Michigan State University handled tasks with varying communication delays. The researchers found that “collective attention” (everyone focusing on the same thing at the same time) is the crucial link between delayed communication and team performance. When messages lag, our shared focus falls apart fast—unless teams are trained to communicate clearly, trust each other, and know when to step up as leaders. “It’s just more difficult for us to focus on the same thing at the same time when we can’t communicate with one another in real time,” said study author Dorothy Carter. “Teams should be prepared to think clearly, communicate in simple ways and build strong connections with each other. These steps help everyone stay focused on the same goals, even when communication is broken up or delayed.”

• The real you. You’re not the same person with your friends as you are with your co-workers or your kids. So who are you, really? Listen to learn more.

ON THE HIDDEN BRAIN PODCAST

Waking Up Your Spiritual Brain: Part 1: Food, safety, and strong relationships are essential to our survival. Psychologist Lisa Miller says our brains also crave something else: transcendence. She suggests that spirituality is a universal human capacity, and that feeling connected to something larger than ourselves may be essential to a fulfilling life.

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ON THE MY UNSUNG HERO PODCAST

Jennifer Novak’s Story: 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.

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Don’t forget to send us the story of your unsung hero! Record a voice memo on your phone and email it to myunsunghero@hiddenbrain.org.

THE AMERICAN STORY YOU WERE NEVER TAUGHT

As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, a new podcast asks a surprising question: What if the story we tell about the founding of the country is missing a crucial point? Hosted by Indigenous author Rebecca Nagle, First America explores how Indigenous nations shaped the founding of the United States—and how Native resistance influenced everything from the Revolution itself to the creation of the federal government. Drawing on leading Native historians, the series uncovers a forgotten history that challenges familiar assumptions about America’s origins and reveals how our current political moment was 250 years in the making.

MIND GAMES

I am a number, but when you add ‘G’ to me, I go away. What number am I?

LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE

A group of people collects $529. If each person contributes an amount in dollars equal to the total number of people in the group, how many people are in the group?

The answer: 23 people (23 x 23 = 529)

IS HIDDEN BRAIN YOUR DREAM JOB?

Are you a writer, editor, or fact-checker with deep experience covering the social sciences? Do you read academic journals for fun? Do you enjoy explaining complex or arcane topics to a general-interest audience? If so, we’d be interested in hearing from you. Please send your resume and three writing and/or editing samples to Executive Producer Tara Boyle via email to jobs@hiddenbrain.org.

MOMENT OF JOY

Stay sparkly

Have an idea for Hidden Brain? A story you want to share with us? Send an email to ideas@hiddenbrain.org. Listen to us on Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music or your favorite podcast platform.

BRAIN WAVES

• Zip codes. Where you grow up can make a big difference, and a new study set out to see how different kinds of environmental factors shape children’s brains. Researchers analyzed thousands of scans from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, comparing them against hundreds of different variables, including cognitive ability, demographics, mental and physical health records, along with measures of safe housing, food access and nearby schools. They found that kids from zip codes with fewer opportunities had a brain pattern that looked more stressed and fatigued. Scientific American reported on the research: “Past research has suggested that socioeconomic status is linked to IQ and cognitive scores, but the new results indicate the reason may be entirely to do with how sleep deprived and stressed a child is when they are tested—not their basic cognitive ability.” In other words, what looks like “ability” may just be the downstream effects of chronic stress and poor sleep tied to a child’s environment.

• Locomotion. We know about confirmation bias and hindsight bias, but is the way we walk influenced by an automatic tendency, too? A recent study found that people moving in crowds tended to drift into counterclockwise motion. Researchers were curious whether this was just a social behavior or something deeper, so they ran a series of experiments. They put groups of people in circular arenas, moved them into open spaces, and had them walk completely alone. They also observed the movements of children and expanded their experiments to people in different countries. Across every setup, they tested what might change the direction people naturally drifted: things like handedness, culture, environment, group dynamics, or social influence. But none of those explanations held up. People still tended to move counterclockwise, even when walking solo with no crowd to influence them. Researchers called it an “intrinsic locomotor bias.” Study author Echeverría Huarte told The Guardian, “Each of us carries a small personal bias to turn slightly to one side, and when many people share a space, those tiny biases add up into a net counterclockwise rotation.”

• Radical, dude. There are hidden beliefs that can leave us feeling stuck in life. Accepting reality as it is can be difficult, but it may be an essential first step in building a meaningful life. Listen to learn more.

ON THE HIDDEN BRAIN PODCAST

Stepping Out of the Shadows: Why does one bad experience have the power to overshadow an otherwise good day? We explore the negativity bias, and ways to rebalance our attention.

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ON THE MY UNSUNG HERO PODCAST

Lia Eastep’s Story: 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.

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Don’t forget to send us the story of your unsung hero! Record a voice memo on your phone and email it to myunsunghero@hiddenbrain.org.

THE AMERICAN STORY YOU WERE NEVER TAUGHT

As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, a new podcast asks a surprising question: What if the story we tell about the founding of the country is missing a crucial point? Hosted by Indigenous author Rebecca Nagle, First America explores how Indigenous nations shaped the founding of the United States—and how Native resistance influenced everything from the Revolution itself to the creation of the federal government. Drawing on leading Native historians, the series uncovers a forgotten history that challenges familiar assumptions about America’s origins and reveals how our current political moment was 250 years in the making.

MIND GAMES

A group of people collects $529. If each person contributes an amount in dollars equal to the total number of people in the group, how many people are in the group?

LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE

What call for help, when written in capital letters, is the same forwards, backwards and upside down?

The answer: SOS

IS HIDDEN BRAIN YOUR DREAM JOB?

Are you a writer, editor, or fact-checker with deep experience covering the social sciences? Do you read academic journals for fun? Do you enjoy explaining complex or arcane topics to a general-interest audience? If so, we’d be interested in hearing from you. Please send your resume and three writing and/or editing samples to Executive Producer Tara Boyle via email to jobs@hiddenbrain.org.

MOMENT OF JOY

Lucky dog

Have an idea for Hidden Brain? A story you want to share with us? Send an email to ideas@hiddenbrain.org. Listen to us on Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music or your favorite podcast platform.

BRAIN WAVES

• Slow down. What does politeness sound like? A new study set out to test the relationship between speech rate and politeness. Researchers ran four studies where subjects took part in a few different tasks: they listened to slow versus fast speech in an unfamiliar language, imagined speaking politely or casually, and then recorded themselves reading the same message under different politeness instructions. They found that study participants consistently perceived slower speech as more polite. And when they were trying to speak politely, they also tried to speak more slowly. “People not only associate politeness with a slower speech rate but also use slower-paced speech to convey politeness,” the study concluded. Next time you’re in a conversation with someone, don’t be afraid to slow it down — within reason, of course.

• Doubt it. What makes a good relationship? A study looked at how relationship doubts—like not being certain about the future of the relationship or exactly where the other person stands—can shape everyday interactions between romantic partners. It’s something that’s been dubbed “relational turbulence theory.” Researchers brought opposite sex couples into a lab and had them plan a hypothetical vacation or figure out how to run a bunch of errands. Then they measured their emotions, behaviors, and level of engagement during the conversations. They found that when people, especially men, felt uncertain about their relationship they were less happy and more annoyed planning out both of these tasks — the vacation and the errands. “How you feel about your romantic relationship at the moment (especially if you’re having doubts) colors your emotions during conversations with your partner,” said lead author Kellie Brisini, “and in turn, the way you communicate.”

• You kidding me? If you are a parent or a teacher, you’re constantly wondering: how do I balance play and safety for the kids in my care? You don’t want to put children in danger, but you also don’t want to rob them of the joy of exploration. Listen to learn more.

ON THE HIDDEN BRAIN PODCAST

A Secret Source of Connection: What keeps us from taking a moment to help someone in need? We explore the “prosociality paradox,” and how to overcome this barrier. Then, psychologist Gordon Flett responds to listener comments about the importance of feeling that we matter.

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ON THE MY UNSUNG HERO PODCAST

Stephen Parker’s Story: During his first year of college, Stephen was devastated by the loss of a relationship he didn’t yet fully understand. One difficult night, a roommate listened with compassion, never pushing him to confront feelings he wasn’t ready to face.

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Don’t forget to send us the story of your unsung hero! Record a voice memo on your phone and email it to myunsunghero@hiddenbrain.org.

MIND GAMES

What call for help, when written in capital letters, is the same forwards, backwards and upside down?

LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE

What can you hold in your right hand, but never in your left hand?

The answer: Your left hand

IS HIDDEN BRAIN YOUR DREAM JOB?

Are you a writer, editor, or fact-checker with deep experience covering psychology and the behavioral sciences? Have you written extensively about these topics in books, newsletters, magazines or general interest publications? Do you read academic journals for fun? Do you enjoy explaining complex topics to a general-interest audience? If so, we’d love to hear from you. We’re in the process of thinking of various expansions – into additional newsletters, video, and, of course, building an ever-better podcast and radio show. If you are interested in audio/video/writing/editing/fact-checking for Hidden Brain, and you have deep knowledge of the subjects we explore on the show, please send your resume and three writing and/or editing samples to Executive Producer Tara Boyle via email to jobs@hiddenbrain.org.

MOMENT OF JOY

It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

Have an idea for Hidden Brain? A story you want to share with us? Send an email to ideas@hiddenbrain.org. Listen to us on Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music or your favorite podcast platform.

BRAIN WAVES

• Dream on. Ever wondered why you had that weird dream about a cow shooting you with a squirt gun? Or what it is that prompted you to dream about showing up to work in your underpants? Researchers collected thousands of dream reports from people over several years, then paired them with cognitive tests, personality measures, and sleep data. They then scored each dream across different dimensions like emotion, sensory detail, social content, and bizarreness. Unsurprisingly, they found that our experiences shape our dreams. But they also found that individual traits like mind‑wandering, sleep quality, stressors, and attitudes toward dreaming reliably predicted the actual content of people’s dreams. For example, people prone to mind-wandering had dreams with more bizarre events and more frequent shifts in dream settings. And poor sleepers recalled fewer details about the environment in their dreams. The researchers concluded, “Dream content is shaped not only by each individual’s unique characteristics but also by broader, generalizable traits and shared external events.”

• Console me. Ever played a video game so engrossing that it created an existential crisis? Even if you’re not a gamer, you might relate to the feeling of crashing after reaching a goal. Researchers wanted to understand the phenomenon of “post‑game depression” to figure out how common and complex that emotional crash really is. They ran studies with 373 video game players, looking at measures of well‑being and mental health. The overall finding? Post‑game depression isn’t one feeling but a cluster of four experiences: intrusive thoughts about the game, difficulty letting go, the urge to replay, and losing interest in other media. People who ruminate more tend to feel this crash more intensely, especially fans of deeply immersive role-playing games. As study author Kamil Janowicz put it: “The more engaging the game world and the closer the relationship with the character, the more difficult it is to return to reality once the game is over.”

• By design. We tell ourselves that meaning comes from impact, passion, or finding the “one right path.” But these beliefs can leave us feeling stuck — even when our lives look great on paper. Listen to learn more.

WHAT DOES RIGHT BRAIN VS. LEFT BRAIN REALLY MEAN?

For decades, pop psychology told us creative people are right-brained and analytical people are left-brained. The real science is far stranger, and far more important.

In our latest video, we explore psychiatrist Iain McGilchrist’s research on the divided brain: why both hemispheres do everything, how they approach the world in completely different ways, and what happens to a society when one half stops listening to the other.

ON THE HIDDEN BRAIN PODCAST

Who Are You, Really? You’re not the same person with your friends as you are with your co-workers or your kids. So who are you, really? This week, political scientist Eric Oliver explores why we often feel divided within ourselves, and how we can learn to live more peacefully with those contradictions. Then, psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman answers your questions on the science of intelligence.

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ON THE MY UNSUNG HERO PODCAST

Rebecca Simonitsch’s Story: After learning she was a candidate for brain surgery, Rebecca boarded a flight home overwhelmed. The stranger beside her turned out to be exactly the person she needed.

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Don’t forget to send us the story of your unsung hero! Record a voice memo on your phone and email it to myunsunghero@hiddenbrain.org.

MIND GAMES

What can you hold in your right hand, but never in your left hand?

LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE

Alice came across a lion and a unicorn in a forest of forgetfulness. Those two are strange beings. The lion lies every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and the other days he speaks the truth. The unicorn lies on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. The other days of the week he speaks the truth. “Yesterday I was lying,” the lion told Alice. “So was I,” said the unicorn. What day is it?

The answer: Thursday. The only day they both tell the truth is Sunday. But today can’t be Sunday because the lion also tells the truth on Saturday (yesterday). Going day by day, the only day one of them is lying and one of them is telling the truth with those two statements is Thursday. (source)

IS HIDDEN BRAIN YOUR DREAM JOB?

Are you a writer, editor, or fact-checker with deep experience covering the social sciences? Do you read academic journals for fun? Do you enjoy explaining complex or arcane topics to a general-interest audience? If so, we’d be interested in hearing from you. Please send your resume and three writing and/or editing samples to Executive Producer Tara Boyle via email to jobs@hiddenbrain.org.

MOMENT OF JOY

Take a tour of Tenochtitlan.

Have an idea for Hidden Brain? A story you want to share with us? Send an email to ideas@hiddenbrain.org. Listen to us on Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music or your favorite podcast platform.

BRAIN WAVES

• Zoinks! Ever had a serious case of the creeps? A new study looked at what exactly causes the spooky feeling you might get in haunting situations. Researchers had volunteers listen to either creepy horror movie music or calming meditation music. At the same time, they exposed some of the study subjects to “infrasound,” or low frequency sound waves, such as storms, traffic, pipes, ventilation systems, and industrial machinery. Then they collected data on participant stress markers and asked them how the music made them feel. It turned out that people exposed to infrasound became more irritated, rated the music as sadder, and showed higher stress‑hormone levels — all without realizing anything unusual had happened. “Most people don’t know what infrasound is,” said study author Rodney Schmaltz. “So, imagine you go into an old building, it’s kind of scary. Maybe you’ve been told there’s a ghost and again the hair on the back of your neck goes up and you feel something. Well, it’s quite reasonable then to think that that has to be a ghost.” Turns out, however, it’s just a frequency. Probably.

• Nightmare fuel. Every kid gets the occasional nightmare, but when those nightmares become chronic, they can be disruptive. A new study set out to explain why some kids develop chronic nightmares and how therapy might help. Researchers proposed a new model to explain why these nightmares might happen, looking at factors like dream content, arousal, sleep habits, and most importantly, a child’s belief in their ability to control the nightmares. They found that when kids wake up from nightmares instead of sleeping through them, they lose the chance to naturally resolve the fear — in other words, the nightmare has no sense of closure. “It’s a child’s response to a nightmare that causes the chronic nightmares to happen,” said study author Lisa Cromer, “which means if we can learn to respond to nightmares differently, then we can interrupt that cycle.” One way to do this, they suggested, might be to encourage kids to write about and reframe the nightmare.

• Liar, liar. Should you tell a harsh truth if it will only cause pain? Or is it sometimes kinder to keep someone in the dark? Listen to learn more.

ON THE HIDDEN BRAIN PODCAST

Unleashing Your Creativity: For centuries, people have described creativity as something mysterious: a flash of insight, a whisper from the muse, a sudden idea that seems to arrive out of nowhere. Psychologist Ap Dijksterhuis explores the hidden mental processes that lead to these moments of inspiration, and why breakthroughs often emerge when the mind is at rest.

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ON THE MY UNSUNG HERO PODCAST

Missy Nicholson’s Story: As a new mom, Missy checked herself into a psychiatric ward for depression. During a group session, a fellow patient reached over and held her hand as she cried.

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Don’t forget to send us the story of your unsung hero! Record a voice memo on your phone and email it to myunsunghero@hiddenbrain.org.

MIND GAMES

Alice came across a lion and a unicorn in a forest of forgetfulness. Those two are strange beings. The lion lies every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and the other days he speaks the truth. The unicorn lies on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. The other days of the week he speaks the truth. “Yesterday I was lying,” the lion told Alice. “So was I,” said the unicorn. What day is it?

LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE

3 monkeys share a bunch of bananas. The first monkey takes 3 bananas. The second monkey then takes half of the remaining bananas. The third monkey takes the last banana. How many bananas were in the original bunch?

The answer: Five

IS HIDDEN BRAIN YOUR DREAM JOB?

Are you a writer, editor, or fact-checker with deep experience covering the social sciences? Do you read academic journals for fun? Do you enjoy explaining complex or arcane topics to a general-interest audience? If so, we’d be interested in hearing from you. Please send your resume and three writing and/or editing samples to Executive Producer Tara Boyle via email to jobs@hiddenbrain.org.

MOMENT OF JOY

The resemblance is uncanny.

Have an idea for Hidden Brain? A story you want to share with us? Send an email to ideas@hiddenbrain.org. Listen to us on Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music or your favorite podcast platform.

BRAIN WAVES

• Write or wrong. You’ve probably heard a lot about how people are more divided than ever, and how social media widens that divide. But how much of our polarization has to do with the medium of communication versus the words themselves? To find out, researchers paired people who held opposing views on contentious topics (e.g. reparations for slavery or the legalization of drugs) and had them engage in debate, either via video, audio, or text. Then, they measured shifts in understanding, perceived conflict, and how “heard” each person felt. Seventy-seven percent of people in the study predicted that communicating disagreement through writing would lead to less conflict. But they were wrong — researchers found that spoken conversations in video or audio form consistently created more understanding and less conflict than text‑based chats, even when the words were identical. “People tend to humanize the communicator more and think they have greater mental capacity,” said study co-author Juliana Schroeder.

• Yeah, right. A recent study set out to see whether different humor styles predict how people use sarcasm. Researchers identified four humor styles: aggressive (used to demean others); affiliative (benevolent, relationship-focused humor); self-enhancing; and self-defeating. Participants completed surveys measuring their humor style and their everyday sarcasm habits, and the researchers looked at how those two patterns lined up. They found that people high in “affiliative humor” employed sarcasm the most. Specifically, those folks enjoyed what the researchers called “face‑saving” sarcasm. That is, the kind of sarcasm that protects a person’s social image (i.e. “nice job!” when a friend trips on their shoelace). Check out the full study for more interesting findings — and no, we’re not being sarcastic.

• Flexin’. Empathy isn’t a fixed trait — we can exercise our empathy muscles. Listen to learn more.

SHOULD YOU WORRY ABOUT YOUR MEMORY?

Forgetting a name or losing your keys feels like a small failure. But what if forgetting is actually one of the most important things your brain does? In our latest YouTube video, we explore the surprising (and reassuring!) science of forgetting.

ON THE HIDDEN BRAIN PODCAST

The Past is Never Dead: How does the culture in which you live shape the life that you lead? We all know that culture affects the languages we speak and the foods we eat. But anthropologist Joseph Henrich says the impact of culture goes even further, reaching into our bodies and our minds. He takes us on a journey through time to show how human cultures create a “collective brain,” and how that shared knowledge profoundly shapes who we are and how we live.

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ON THE MY UNSUNG HERO PODCAST

Mike Lopes’ Story: Mike’s wife was dying after years of cancer treatment, and she could no longer recognize the people around her. Then her longtime chemotherapy nurse, Beverly, arrived.

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Don’t forget to send us the story of your unsung hero! Record a voice memo on your phone and email it to myunsunghero@hiddenbrain.org.

MIND GAMES

Three monkeys share a bunch of bananas. The first monkey takes 3 bananas. The second monkey then takes half of the remaining bananas. The third monkey takes the last banana.

How many bananas were in the original bunch?

LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE

A big brown cow is lying down in the middle of a country road. The streetlights are not on, the moon is not out, and the skies are heavily clouded. A truck is driving towards the cow at full speed, its headlights off. Yet the driver sees the cow from afar easily, and avoids hitting it, without even having to brake hard. How is that possible?

The answer: It’s daytime.

IS HIDDEN BRAIN YOUR DREAM JOB?

Are you a writer, editor, or fact-checker with deep experience covering the social sciences? Do you read academic journals for fun? Do you enjoy explaining complex or arcane topics to a general-interest audience? If so, we’d be interested in hearing from you. Please send your resume and three writing and/or editing samples to Executive Producer Tara Boyle via email to jobs@hiddenbrain.org.

MOMENT OF JOY

It’s a gas.

Have an idea for Hidden Brain? A story you want to share with us? Send an email to ideas@hiddenbrain.org. Listen to us on Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music or your favorite podcast platform.

BRAIN WAVES

• Kid stuff. Kids usually seem to view the world through rose-tinted glasses, and a study backs this up. It found that young kids are indeed “hyperoptimistic,” but that outlook tends to wear off by the time they become teenagers. Why? Researchers observed kids between the ages of eight and seventeen playing a treasure‑collecting game, then analyzed how they reacted to the ups and downs of the game. Did failing help them play better next time? And how did learning from their mistakes affect their mood? Overall, the researchers found that younger children, as opposed to teenagers, tended to stay upbeat while playing the game because they barely register any negative feedback. “Whilst children learn as much as adolescents when something good happens, said author Tobias Hauser, “they tend to ignore when things are not as good as they hoped.” This might be the equivalent of sticking your fingers in your ears, but it’s a tool that may actually help young kids pursue big goals without getting discouraged. So there.

• Riddle me this. Here’s a riddle for you: “In a Bangladeshi market, a small potato bag costs 5 taka, a medium potato bag costs 7 taka, and a large potato bag costs 9 taka. Yet, a single potato in that market costs 10 taka. How is that possible?” The answer is simple: the bags are empty. This is an example of a type of riddle that some call a “stumper,” that is, riddles where the solution is glaringly obvious in hindsight. In a study, researchers analyzed classic stumpers, looking at how people interpret the clues and what mental representations come to mind. Then, they compared these riddles to more standard brain teasers. They found that stumpers stump because they trigger the wrong mental image — and once that image takes hold, almost everything you think pushes you further from the answer. Our minds seem to cling to default assumptions so tightly that we often can’t see solutions sitting right in front of us. Keep that in mind for this week’s puzzle.

• Ancient wisdom. For thousands of years, philosophers have come up with strategies to help us cope with life’s hardships. What can these ancient ideas — backed by modern psychology —teach us about managing disappointment and misfortune? Listen to learn more.

WHY AMERICANS CAN’T RESIST REDEMPTION STORIES

Every day, invisible stories shape how you think, without you being aware of them. They affect how you watch sports, how you talk about illness, and even how nations go to war. Psychologists call these stories master narratives. In our latest YouTube video, we explore one of the most powerful master narratives in American culture: the redemption arc. And we find out what happens when reality refuses to follow the script.

CARBON CAPTURE WAS SOLD AS A CLIMATE FIX. INSTEAD, IT BECAME AN ETHANOL EMPIRE.

Award-winning climate journalist Amy Westervelt returns with a new season of Drilled, her podcast about the deception, disinformation, and power structures keeping real climate solutions out of reach. Drilled: Carbon Cowboys looks at the tech, money, and politics behind carbon capture’s rise and how the narrative being shaped around “sustainable” fuel projects and doesn’t do a thing about climate change. Listen now.

HIDDEN BRAIN LIVE

Experience Hidden Brain Live at Stanford this Saturday, May 16. A decade of discovery, distilled into one unmissable event. Stanford alum Shankar Vedantam is bringing his signature science and storytelling to the stage to share the insights that have captivated millions—and might just change how you see yourself.

ON THE HIDDEN BRAIN PODCAST

The Cowboy Philosopher: In 2009, an old man died in a California nursing home. His obituary included not just his given name, but a long list of the pseudonyms he’d been known to use. In this classic 2019 episode, we trace the life of Riley Shepard, a hillbilly musician, writer, small-time con man and, perhaps, a genius. Then, on Your Questions Answered, psychologist Leslie John returns to answer your questions about when to share a secret, and when to keep it to yourself.

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ON THE MY UNSUNG HERO PODCAST

Pat Gentile’s Story: After chemotherapy left Pat without hair, she relied on a wig to feel like herself. The first day she went without it, a stranger in a convenience store gave her a compliment that Pat still carries with her.

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Don’t forget to send us the story of your unsung hero! Record a voice memo on your phone and email it to myunsunghero@hiddenbrain.org.

MIND GAMES

A big brown cow is lying down in the middle of a country road. The streetlights are not on, the moon is not out, and the skies are heavily clouded. A truck is driving towards the cow at full speed, its headlights off. Yet the driver sees the cow from afar easily, and avoids hitting it, without even having to brake hard. How is that possible?

LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE

Two people have $100 in total. One has $40 more than the other. How much does each have?

The answer: $30 and $70

IS HIDDEN BRAIN YOUR DREAM JOB?

Are you a writer, editor, or fact-checker with deep experience covering the social sciences? Do you read academic journals for fun? Do you enjoy explaining complex or arcane topics to a general-interest audience? If so, we’d be interested in hearing from you. Please send your resume and three writing and/or editing samples to Executive Producer Tara Boyle via email to jobs@hiddenbrain.org.

MOMENT OF JOY

Live laugh love? Not for this guy.

Have an idea for Hidden Brain? A story you want to share with us? Send an email to ideas@hiddenbrain.org. Listen to us on Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music or your favorite podcast platform.

BRAIN WAVES

• Baby steps. How big of a difference does daycare make? Researchers wanted to know whether starting formal childcare a year earlier (at a licensed, registered daycare center, as opposed to being cared for by family at home) might affect a kid’s academic performance later in school. To test this, they took advantage of Norway’s 2003 childcare expansion, in which towns were required to expand childcare spots. But the expansion rollout was uneven: some towns expanded faster than others. Thus, some babies got a daycare spot at one year old, while others had to wait until age two, depending on where they lived. Then the researchers linked national registry data for every child born between 2002–2007 to their later standardized test scores. They also looked at when each child started daycare. They found that starting childcare one year earlier boosted ninth grade math scores by a few percentage points. For children whose mothers didn’t finish high school, the improvement was much larger — roughly the difference between being an average student and an above‑average one. The study suggests that high‑quality early childcare can reduce some achievement gaps, especially for kids who might start out with fewer advantages.

• That’s a shame. Some faces (and paintings) are more memorable than others. This is something researchers call “memorability” — an intrinsic quality that makes some things more likely to stick in our minds. Researchers were curious if a memorable face might make it easier for someone to remember your name. Across a series of experiments, psychologists Andrew Cook and Deanne L. Westerman found that the more memorable a person’s face, the better able volunteers could recall their name, even when they couldn’t see the face. Interestingly, though, researchers also looked at the same question with cities and scenery, and the effect did not hold. People remembered the scenes, but not the names of the cities associated with them. It seems “our brains have a special connection between faces and names,” as Cook put it.

• Mind on my money. We like to think that good financial decisions come down to discipline and basic math. But the psychology of money turns out to be deeply complicated. Listen to learn more.

WHY WE MELT DOWN UNDER PRESSURE — AND HOW TO STOP

You spend hours studying for the big test, practicing for the concert, prepping for the job interview. You feel ready. But when that big moment finally arrives...you choke. Why does this happen, and how can we keep our own minds from sabotaging us? Check out this video on our new YouTube channel to find out.

HIDDEN BRAIN LIVE

Experience Hidden Brain Live at Stanford on Saturday, May 16. A decade of discovery, distilled into one unmissable event. Stanford alum and Hidden Brain host Shankar Vedantam is bringing his signature science and storytelling to the stage to share the insights that have captivated millions—and might just change how you see yourself.

ON THE HIDDEN BRAIN PODCAST

Radical Acceptance: Last week, we looked at the hidden beliefs that can leave us feeling stuck in life. This week, in the second part of our conversation with behavioral scientist Dave Evans, we talk about radical acceptance. Dave shares why accepting reality as it is can be so difficult — and why it’s an essential first step in building a meaningful life. Then, in the latest installment of Your Questions Answered, psychologist Sarah Schnitker returns to answer listeners’ questions about patience.

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ON THE MY UNSUNG HERO PODCAST

Barb Barnes’ Story: After having open heart surgery, Barb was terrified of the immense pain she’d likely have to endure during her recovery. Then a nurse stepped in to help and changed the rest of Barb’s life in the process.

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Don’t forget to send us the story of your unsung hero! Record a voice memo on your phone and email it to myunsunghero@hiddenbrain.org.

MIND GAMES

Two people have $100 in total. One has $40 more than the other. How much does each have?

LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE

I am a number, but when you add ‘G’ to me, I go away. What number am I?

The answer: One

MOMENT OF JOY

May the force be with you.

Have an idea for Hidden Brain? A story you want to share with us? Send an email to ideas@hiddenbrain.org. Listen to us on Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music or your favorite podcast platform.

BRAIN WAVES

• Museum mood. Do you feel good after staring at a Dali painting at a fine art gallery, or after riding a flight simulator at an aerospace museum? You’re not alone. In a recent study, researchers had hundreds of study volunteers in Croatia visit one of two museums: the Museum of Chocolate or the Museum of Broken Relationships. They tracked people’s moods and reactions before and after the visit, prompting them to rate “hedonic” statements (i.e. “I often feel joyful”) and statements geared more to their eudaimonic well‐being (i.e. “I believe I am always learning and growing as a person”). Perhaps unsurprisingly, the chocolate museum boosted in-the-moment happiness more than the broken relationships museum. But both museums made people feel positive in a deeper, meaningful way. What’s more, when people walked into a museum with the expectation that they would feel good, then tended to walk out feeling even better — a classic case of expectation meeting reality. Now we have yet another excuse to visit a chocolate museum!

• That’s a shame. Do you feel loved? Over at Psyche, clinical psychologists Michaela B. Swee and Susan Murray argue that shame is one commonly overlooked but extremely destructive feeling that hinders feeling loved. “Shame is rooted in how we view ourselves in relation to others and how we think others might perceive us,” they explain. People who carry shame believe they aren’t worthy of kindness or care from themselves or others. This feeling is so deeply internalized that sometimes we have no idea we are even experiencing it. Swee and Murray argue that when we are aware of our shame, most of us try to avoid it. But examining our shame can help us better work through it. One strategy for doing this? Write a letter. “A letter written to someone you care about – later reframed and read as a letter to yourself – can help awaken a capacity to relate to yourself in a gentler, more caring way,” they write. More on how to cope with shame here.

• The feeling is mutual. We often think that emotions like happiness or sadness live inside our individual minds. But if you’ve ever gone to a music concert in a big stadium or attended a political rally with like-minded voters, you know that emotions can move through crowds in powerful ways. Listen to learn more.

ARE YOU STRONGER THAN YOU THINK?

When life knocks us down, how easily do we get back up? Psychologist George Bonanno has spent decades studying this question. In our latest video, we dig into the practical tools his research highlights — including what actually helps us move forward after adversity.

HIDDEN BRAIN LIVE

Experience Hidden Brain Live at Stanford on Saturday, May 16. A decade of discovery, distilled into one unmissable event. Stanford alum and Hidden Brain host Shankar Vedantam is bringing his signature science and storytelling to the stage to share the insights that have captivated millions — and might just change how you see yourself.

ON THE HIDDEN BRAIN PODCAST

Designing a Life that Matters: We tell ourselves that meaning comes from impact, passion, or finding the “one right path.” But these beliefs can leave us feeling stuck — even when our lives look perfectly fine on paper. Behavioral scientist Dave Evans describes a new approach, borrowed from design thinking, to help us build lives that feel more alive, flexible, and real.

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ON THE MY UNSUNG HERO PODCAST

Bethany Renfree’s Story: A favorite episode from the archives: Bethany was feeling overwhelmed as a single mom with three small children. But one small act of kindness by a neighbor let her know she’d be okay.

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Don’t forget to send us the story of your unsung hero! Record a voice memo on your phone and email it to myunsunghero@hiddenbrain.org.

MIND GAMES

I am a number, but when you add ‘G’ to me, I go away. What number am I?

LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE

A man is pushing his car. He stops in front of a hotel and immediately knows he is bankrupt. How did he know this?

The answer: He’s playing Monopoly.

MOMENT OF JOY

Ready for summer?

Have an idea for Hidden Brain? A story you want to share with us? Send an email to ideas@hiddenbrain.org. Listen to us on Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music or your favorite podcast platform.

BRAIN WAVES

• Loss aversion. Voicing your opinion can be tough at work, and a new study wanted to see what motivates employees to do so. Specifically, they wanted to see what prompts employees to speak up more: when a problem is framed as a potential gain or as a potential loss. In one experiment, researchers asked volunteers to write about a specific problem they were having at work. They asked some people to frame the problem as a gain (for example, “if the product is good, our company stands to make a lot of money”), and asked others to frame it as a loss (i.e. “if this product isn’t up to standards, the company’s reputation will suffer.”) They then asked people how likely they were to speak up about the problem. They found when people wrote about the problem as a potential loss, they were more likely to want to speak up about it. The finding held true across other experiments. But it wasn’t just any loss — people were even more motivated to pipe up when the loss was framed as a collective one. “When managers say, ‘If we don’t get this done, not only will you lose the $5,000 bonus, but everybody in this work group is going to lose a $5,000 bonus,’ it magnifies an employee’s motivation to act in a proactive way,” said study author Phil Thompson in a press release. “This suggests that framing work problems as what will be collectively lost - compared to what can be individually lost - makes employees want to speak up more.”

• Cringe factor. Can you laugh at yourself? A new study looked at whether having a sense of humor about our own harmless slip‑ups makes a better impression on people than cringing with embarrassment. Researchers ran six experiments, showing study volunteers people’s everyday flubs (i.e. waving at the wrong person or walking into a glass door) and then compared volunteer reactions when the person either looked embarrassed or laughed it off. Across the board, the laughers came across as warmer, more competent, and more authentic. Researchers suggested it’s most likely because observers felt like embarrassment was overkill for such tiny mistakes. Put simply, no need to cringe.

• Rethinking depression...We tend to see depression as an illness to eliminate, evidence that something has gone wrong in the brain. But what if low mood serves a purpose? Listen to learn more.

HOW TO BECOME MORE BRAVE

Courageous people experience fear, just like the rest of us. But they have one interesting trait that separates them from most people — and it’s not what you’d expect. Learn more and subscribe to our new YouTube channel so you don’t miss any of our upcoming videos:

HIDDEN BRAIN LIVE

Experience Hidden Brain Live at Stanford on Saturday, May 16. A decade of discovery, distilled into one unmissable event. Stanford alum and Hidden Brain host Shankar Vedantam brings his signature science and storytelling to the stage to share the insights that have captivated millions — and might just change how you see yourself.

ON THE HIDDEN BRAIN PODCAST

Do You Feel Loved? What’s the difference between being loved and feeling loved?

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ON THE MY UNSUNG HERO PODCAST

Everett Miller’s Story: At 15, Everett was about to steal a shirt at the mall when a girl saw him and whispered, “It’s not worth it.” He stopped, and decades later, he still thinks about that moment.

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Don’t forget to send us the story of your unsung hero! Record a voice memo on your phone and email it to myunsunghero@hiddenbrain.org.

MIND GAMES

A man is pushing his car. He stops in front of a hotel and immediately knows he is bankrupt. How did he know this?

LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE

What goes up, but does not come down?

The answer: age

MOMENT OF JOY

Ready for summer?

Have an idea for Hidden Brain? A story you want to share with us? Send an email to ideas@hiddenbrain.org. Listen to us on Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music or your favorite podcast platform.

BRAIN WAVES

• Storytime. Stories are powerful. They make you laugh, make you cry, and provide insight into our messy world. But can they help you fall in love? A study set out to understand how stories might affect a person’s romantic interest. In three experiments, researchers showed people dating profiles that were either simple lists of facts about a person or full-blown stories. For example, one profile included simple facts like, “The person plays the guitar, studies economics and likes to travel.” But the narrative version, written by the research team, described how the person’s grandfather had given them a guitar when they were seven, and then music became an essential part of their lives. Sometimes these stories included photos, too. The results? The more narrative profiles consistently sparked more empathy, and that translated into more romantic interest. In other words, as study author Gurit Birnbaum put it: “We are fascinated by stories, yet we write our dating profiles like shopping lists.”

• The stress of stress. Experiencing discrimination can take a toll on a person’s mental health, and it turns out that even anticipating the experience can be harmful. A study set out to understand how expecting discrimination—not just experiencing it—affects people day to day. Researchers followed 341 U.S. adults for 10 days, tracking when they anticipated discrimination and how they felt afterward. People expected discrimination about one of every five days. This was especially the case for those from marginalized groups. And when discrimination actually happened, those who had been bracing for it felt more stressed and reported a higher number of physical symptoms, like headaches and fatigue. Put simply, we don’t just react to stressful events, we react to the possibility of them, too. “There’s been some debate about whether anticipating stress can help people prepare,” said lead author Lydia Ong. “But what we found is that, in this case, it actually amplified the stress response.”
  

• The cost of charisma...Charismatic leaders can inspire devotion and give people a powerful sense of meaning. They can also make us vulnerable. Listen to learn more.

WHY WE CHOKE UNDER PRESSURE — AND HOW TO STOP

You spend hours studying for the big test, practicing for the concert, prepping for the job interview. You feel ready. But when that big moment finally arrives...you choke. Why does this happen, and how can we keep our own minds from sabotaging us? Check out our latest video on our new YouTube channel to find out.

ON THE HIDDEN BRAIN PODCAST

How to Change the World: Does power truly flow from the barrel of a gun? Political scientist Erica Chenoweth, who studied more than 100 years of revolutions and insurrections, says the answer is counterintuitive..

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ON THE MY UNSUNG HERO PODCAST

Everett Miller’s Story: At 15, Everett was about to steal a shirt at the mall when a girl saw him and whispered, “It’s not worth it.” He stopped, and decades later, he still thinks about that moment.

Listen on Apple

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Don’t forget to send us the story of your unsung hero! Record a voice memo on your phone and email it to myunsunghero@hiddenbrain.org.

MIND GAMES

What goes up, but does not come down?

LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE

If the day before yesterday is the 23rd, then what is the day after tomorrow?

The answer: the 27th

MOMENT OF JOY

How to Celebrate Earth Day

Have an idea for Hidden Brain? A story you want to share with us? Send an email to ideas@hiddenbrain.org. Listen to us on Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music or your favorite podcast platform.

BRAIN WAVES

• Boohoo...Could crying be good for you? Researchers wanted to figure out what actually happens to our moods right after we cry. They tracked more than 100 adults for four weeks, using an app where they reported every crying episode, what triggered it, how intense it was, and how they felt up to an hour later. The big takeaway? Crying didn’t always make people feel better. In fact, it can make people feel worse. But these mood changes depended heavily on why volunteers cried. Triggers like loneliness or overload were correlated with a big downward dip in mood, while media‑triggered tears (think a sad movie or song) didn’t have much effect, and sometimes even nudged mood upward. But overall, whatever emotional trigger the crying accompanied — good or bad — it usually faded within an hour. All of this suggests that crying isn’t necessarily an emotional release. As the authors put it, “Overall, there was no overwhelming evidence that crying per se helped people to feel better than usual.”

• Getting gritty with it. Who you hang out with in high school can shape your music taste, your slang—maybe even your future income. Researchers set out to see whether having “gritty” peers (the ones who keep pushing, keep trying, and don’t quit) might shape long‑term life outcomes. They looked at long-term data that tracked students from high school into adulthood, about 15 years later. Overall, they found that having grittier classmates was associated with about a four percent increase in future earnings, with the biggest gains for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Why might that be the case? The researchers offered a few different explanations: higher odds of going to college, landing jobs that matched long‑term goals, and developing more resilience when life got messy. Or, shall we say, Gritty.

• The cost of charisma...Charismatic leaders can inspire devotion and give people a powerful sense of meaning. They can also make us vulnerable. Listen to learn more.

IS THERE A SECRET FORMULA FOR MASTERPIECES?

What makes a painting or a sculpture a masterpiece? New research suggests that there’s a secret formula for artistic greatness, and it’s inside our brains. We explain more on our new YouTube channel. Please check it out!

ON THE HIDDEN BRAIN PODCAST

The Debt Trap: We like to think that good financial decisions come down to discipline and basic math. But the psychology of money turns out to be deeply complicated.

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ON THE MY UNSUNG HERO PODCAST

Jay’s Story: After making a series of unfortunate choices, Jay found himself sitting in a jail cell, alone and hopeless. But a fellow inmate’s words brought him comfort, and changed how he saw his life.

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Don’t forget to send us the story of your unsung hero! Record a voice memo on your phone and email it to myunsunghero@hiddenbrain.org.

MIND GAMES

If the day before yesterday is the 23rd, then what is the day after tomorrow?

LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE

You throw a ball as hard as you can and it comes back to you. Yet it doesn’t bounce off anything, there is nothing attached to it, and no one else catches or throws it back to you. How did this happen?

The answer: You threw it up in the air.

MOMENT OF JOY

The teddy bear doctor is in.

This weekly newsletter is made possible in part by Loom by Atlassian. Unstuck your process, projects, and teams with video communication from Loom. It’s a team changer. Try Loom today at loom.com.

Have an idea for Hidden Brain? A story you want to share with us? Send an email to ideas@hiddenbrain.org. Listen to us on Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music or your favorite podcast platform.

BRAIN WAVES

• Who cares? They say it takes a village to raise a child, and a new study set out to look at that kind of dynamic. Specifically, the study looked at whether getting help with childcare (especially from people who aren’t family) might make adults more generous, reciprocal, and altruistic. They ran experiments with people in small communities from the Solomon Islands, then paired the results with surveys about who helps them with childcare. They found that parents were more altruistic to people who helped with childcare, even when the help came from outsiders like non-relatives. That’s not all. Parents weren’t just generous toward the helpers — they were also more generous toward total strangers who had nothing to do with taking care of their kids. Of course, it might be that these people were more generous to begin with, but either way, the study seemed to find a strong relationship between kindness and getting help with childcare.

• Capital none. How does immigration impact the economy? Researchers wanted to know what would really happen to wages, prices, and living standards if the U.S. deported a large share of undocumented workers. Using a large dynamic economic model, they simulated what happens if half of unauthorized immigrants (that is, workers not legally allowed to live and work in the U.S.) were removed from the workforce. In the short run, native workers’ (U.S.-born or naturalized citizens) real wages increase slightly — about 0.15% — mostly because there are fewer workers per unit of capital. But over time, that amount adjusts downward to match the smaller population. That’s when real wages actually fall in every state, by about 0.33% nationally. Meanwhile, prices rise in industries that rely heavily on unauthorized labor (like farming), while most other sectors barely change. Put simply: removing a large chunk of the workforce produces a tiny, temporary wage bump for natives, followed by lower wages in the long run.

• Charmed, I’m sure. Charismatic leaders can inspire devotion and give people a powerful sense of meaning. They can also make us vulnerable. Listen to learn more.

HIDDEN BRAIN...NOW ON YOUTUBE

• Smash that subscribe button. Hidden Brain is with you during your commute. While you make dinner. As you’re unwinding before bed. And now you have another way to hang out with us, as we launch our new YouTube channel! Check out our trailer now, and subscribe to our channel while you’re there. Our first three full-length videos will drop April 10. We can’t wait to share them with you!

ON THE HIDDEN BRAIN PODCAST

When It’s Okay to Lie: Should you tell a harsh truth if it will only cause pain? Or is it sometimes kinder to keep someone in the dark?

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ON THE MY UNSUNG HERO PODCAST

John’s Story: A few years ago, John’s 12-year-old daughter developed a sudden illness, and for months she could barely leave the house. On the first warm day of the year, he brought her outside. A man drove by, rolled down his window, and said something John will never forget.

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Don’t forget to send us the story of your unsung hero! Record a voice memo on your phone and email it to myunsunghero@hiddenbrain.org.

MIND GAMES

You throw a ball as hard as you can and it comes back to you. Yet it doesn’t bounce off anything, there is nothing attached to it, and no one else catches or throws it back to you. How did this happen?

LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE

When you stop to look, you can always see me. But if you try to touch me, you can never feel me. Although you walk towards me, I remain the same distance from you. What am I?

The answer: The horizon

MOMENT OF JOY

Jump on board NASA’s Artemis II

This weekly newsletter is made possible in part by Loom by Atlassian. Unstuck your process, projects, and teams with video communication from Loom. It’s a team changer. Try Loom today at loom.com.

Have an idea for Hidden Brain? A story you want to share with us? Send an email to ideas@hiddenbrain.org. Listen to us on Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music or your favorite podcast platform.

BRAIN WAVES

• To do(n’t). We all know that unpleasant tasks are, well, unpleasant. But our tendency to avoid them may be rooted in the brain, not just in a lack of willpower. A new study looked at the neurobiology behind why we put off things like cleaning the fridge or writing a complicated email. Researchers gave macaque monkeys simple tasks that ended either with a reward or with a reward plus an annoying puff of air to the face. As expected, the monkeys avoided the task that came with the annoying puff. But when scientists manipulated two of their brain regions — regions associated with motivation – that same hesitation vanished. The monkeys went ahead with the task even when they knew the puff was coming, suggesting that this circuit acts like a built‑in motivation brake. In other words, our reluctance to do unpleasant things isn’t just laziness; it’s part of how the brain weighs cost and discomfort before taking action.

• Wham, bam...How do people look back on their one-night stands? Researchers surveyed over a thousand people from more than 40 countries. They asked them to look back on their most recent one-night stand and rate everything from sexual satisfaction to alcohol intoxication to how autonomous their decision felt. They found that most people, regardless of gender, felt neutral to positive about their experience. But there was a gender gap. Women tended to regret the experience more than men, at least when it came to opposite-sex one-night stands. What explains the gap? Decision pressure, reputational worries, and heavy intoxication all played a role, but sexual satisfaction was the biggest culprit. That same gender gap didn’t seem to exist in same-sex encounters. “Gender differences in sexual experiences remain robust even when controlling for substance use,” the study concluded.

• The horror...Why are so many of us drawn to horror, gore, and true crime? Why do we crane our necks to see the scene of a crash on the highway? Listen to learn more.

ON THE HIDDEN BRAIN PODCAST

Group Think: How do the groups you identify with shape your sense of self? Do they influence the beer you buy? The way you vote? In this favorite episode from 2021, psychologist Jay Van Bavel explains how our group loyalties affect us more than we realize, and can even shape our basic senses of sight, taste and smell. Then, look out! There’s a g-g-g-ghost! Psychologist Coltan Scrivner answers listener questions about the surprising benefits of scary entertainment.

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ON THE MY UNSUNG HERO PODCAST

Holly Deiaco-Smith’s Story: After a few weeks of studying abroad in France, Holly felt overwhelmed and homesick. But an encounter with a stranger at the post office changed everything, and led to a decades-long friendship.

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Don’t forget to send us the story of your unsung hero! Record a voice memo on your phone and email it to myunsunghero@hiddenbrain.org.

MIND GAMES

When you stop to look, you can always see me. But if you try to touch me, you can never feel me. Although you walk towards me, I remain the same distance from you. What am I?

LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE

There are three boxes. One contains only apples, one contains only oranges, and one contains both apples and oranges. The boxes have been labeled incorrectly, and no label correctly identifies the contents of its box. You must open just one box and take out one piece of fruit without looking at the contents of the box. By looking at the fruit you’ve picked, how can you label all of the boxes correctly?

The answer: The box labeled Apples and Oranges contains only one or the other, since it’s mislabeled. Pick one fruit from that box. If it’s an orange, then label the box as orange. Then you’ll know the box that’s labeled Oranges actually contains apples, and the remaining box contains both.

A MOMENT OF JOY

A simple act of kindness — plus, soup

This weekly newsletter is made possible in part by Loom by Atlassian. Unstuck your process, projects, and teams with video communication from Loom. It’s a team changer. Try Loom today at loom.com.

Have an idea for Hidden Brain? A story you want to share with us? Send an email to ideas@hiddenbrain.org. Listen to us on Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music or your favorite podcast platform.

• Small talk. People generally have positive experiences talking to strangers, yet we always expect those experiences to be awkward. What gives? Across three experiments, researchers had people talk with strangers, then tracked how their expectations changed over time. They found that right after a conversation, people were optimistic about future interactions. You might imagine them thinking something like, “Hey, that wasn’t so bad, maybe next time won’t be bad, either.” But that optimism didn’t last. Within a week or two, their expectations about talking with strangers went right back to being pessimistic, as if the positive experience had never happened. This pattern was true for both deep and shallow conversations. Part of the problem, researchers said, was that people remembered the conversations as less positive than they actually felt in the moment. “The mind’s default expectations can reassert themselves quickly,” the researchers concluded. “Creating lasting changes in social beliefs may require more than occasional positive experiences to learn from.” In other words, go ahead...talk to strangers.

• Working hard or hardly working? The law of least effort states that people generally prefer the path of least resistance. We don’t like to work hard if we don’t have to, right? But how do social pressures influence this behavior? A new study looked into that question. Researchers asked people to repeatedly choose between an easy task and a harder one. When they learned that people before them had consistently picked the harder task, they stepped up and worked harder, too. But the opposite was not true. When people were told that others typically chose the easy route, they didn’t slack off—they put in just as much effort as participants who were told nothing at all. Even when researchers tried to make low effort seem more acceptable or relatable, people still refused to dip below their usual effort level. To put it simply, the idea that people avoid effort whenever possible doesn’t really hold up — at least not according to this study.

• Natural wonder. What is it about the outdoors that has such a powerful effect on our mood and our minds? Listen to learn more.

ON THE HIDDEN BRAIN PODCAST

Rethinking Depression: We tend to see depression as an illness to eliminate, evidence that something has gone wrong in the brain. But what if low mood serves a purpose?

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ON THE MY UNSUNG HERO PODCAST

Dan Roche’s Story: Dan was born with a cataract that left him mostly blind in one eye. At baseball practice one day, his coach noticed he was losing sight of the ball and helped him adjust. Fifty years later, it’s still a small act of kindness Dan has never forgotten.

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Don’t forget to send us the story of your unsung hero! Record a voice memo on your phone and email it to myunsunghero@hiddenbrain.org.

DON’T FEEL FOMO: COME SEE US LIVE!

Our next stops on Hidden Brain’s live tour are just days away! Join Shankar for an evening of science and storytelling in Philadelphia on March 21 or New York City on March 25. He’ll be sharing seven key psychological insights from his first decade hosting the show. And stayed tuned for more tour stops to be announced later this spring!

MIND GAMES

There are three boxes. One contains only apples, one contains only oranges, and one contains both apples and oranges. The boxes have been labeled incorrectly, and no label correctly identifies the contents of its box. You must open just one box and take out one piece of fruit without looking at the contents of the box. By looking at the fruit you’ve picked, how can you label all of the boxes correctly?

LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE

What can go through glass without breaking it?

The answer: Light

A MOMENT OF JOY

More evidence for the power of forgiveness.

This weekly newsletter is made possible in part by Loom by Atlassian. Unstuck your process, projects, and teams with video communication from Loom. It’s a team changer. Try Loom today at loom.com.

Have an idea for Hidden Brain? A story you want to share with us? Send an email to ideas@hiddenbrain.org. Listen to us on Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music or your favorite podcast platform.

• Golden years. Are you afraid of getting older? The authors of a new study wanted to find out whether anxiety about aging shows up not just in the mind, but in the body as well. They analyzed data from 726 women in midlife, asking how much they worried about things like declining health, appearance changes, or fertility. Then they looked at blood samples using models that allowed them to estimate how quickly someone is aging at a cellular level. The study found that women who felt more anxious about aging, especially about future health problems, showed signs of faster biological aging. Interestingly, fears about beauty or fertility didn’t show the same effect. “Aging-related anxiety is not merely a psychological concern but may leave a mark on the body with real health consequences.” said study author Mariana Rodrigues.

• Wise guy. A friend comes to you with a problem: they’re fighting with their siblings over an inheritance. You probably give your friend advice based on your own experience. Or you consider their siblings’ point of view. Or maybe you admit that you have no idea what to do and just listen to them vent. Today’s AI can solve lots of problems, but it struggles with messy, uncertain situations like this. Authors of a recent paper say that’s because artificial intelligence lacks wisdom — the ability to reflect on its own thinking and weigh different perspectives. But what is wisdom, anyway? The paper boils it down to two processes: “object‑level strategies” (like mental shortcuts, narratives, and rules of thumb) and “metacognitive strategies” (like intellectual humility, perspective‑taking, and checking whether your own reasoning makes sense). The authors argue that today’s AI is pretty good at the first category but struggles with the second. They add that wise metacognition could make AI more robust and trustworthy.

• Shhh...We all carry secrets. But doing so can be costly. Listen to learn more.

ON THE HIDDEN BRAIN PODCAST

Yuck! The Science of Disgust: What’s the point of disgust? We talk with psychologist David Pizarro about the evolutionary role of this emotion, and how it’s used to persuade and divide us.

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ON THE MY UNSUNG HERO PODCAST

Ana Maria Cuenca’s Story: In the 1990s, Ana Maria’s father drove a taxi in Miami. One repeat passenger had a ritual: at the end of every ride, he’d give her father $20 for Ana Maria to “buy something nice.” One day, the man pulled out a $50 bill — the exact amount she needed to apply to her dream school.

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Don’t forget to send us the story of your unsung hero! Record a voice memo on your phone and email it to myunsunghero@hiddenbrain.org.

DON’T FEEL FOMO: COME SEE US LIVE!

Our next stops on Hidden Brain’s live tour are just weeks away! Join Shankar for an evening of science and storytelling in Philadelphia on March 21 or New York City on March 25. He’ll be sharing seven key psychological insights from his first decade hosting the show. And stayed tuned for more tour stops to be announced later this spring!

MIND GAMES

What can go through glass without breaking it?

LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE

If five cats can catch five mice in five minutes, how long will it take one cat to catch one mouse?

The answer: Five minutes. It would take one cat 25 minutes to catch all five mice (5x5=25). Working backward and dividing 25 by five, we get five minutes for one cat to catch each mouse.

A MOMENT OF JOY

How much money would you need to be happy?

Have an idea for Hidden Brain? A story you want to share with us? Send an email to ideas@hiddenbrain.org. Listen to us on Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music or your favorite podcast platform.