On the morning after election day, pundits, pollsters, politicians, and citizens woke up feeling stunned. All signs, all year, had been pointing towards a victory for Democrat Hillary Clinton. So, what happened? We ask one of the few people who didn’t get it wrong: the historian Allan Lichtman.
We didn’t hear very much about climate change during this election cycle — and social science research might give us some insight as to why not. This week, an encore of one of our favorite episodes about why it’s so hard for us to wrap our heads around climate change.
A century after women won the vote in the US, we still see very few of them in leadership roles. Researchers say women are trapped in a catch-22 known as “the double bind.” Note: an early version of this episode incorrectly stated that Carol Moseley Braun was the first African-American U.S. Senator. She was in fact the first female African-American Senator.
We have lots of ways to describe the good that can come from bad: a blessing in disguise, a silver lining — but what if the bad thing was truly awful? This week on Hidden Brain, framing and re-framing a tragedy.
Blessings in Disguise Read More »
A few months ago, Hidden Brain investigated claims that Airbnb users were facing discrimination on the platform. Now, we bring you an update on the company’s response.
Update: #AirbnbWhileBlack Read More »
In the midst of a rancorous election, we present a new theory to explain why the two sides of the aisle seem irreconcilable sometimes.
Our Politics, Our Parenting Read More »
We’ve all heard the old adage that “power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” but psychologist Dacher Keltner at UC Berkeley has found evidence to prove it. His book is The Power Paradox: How We Gain and Lose Influence.
The Perils of Power Read More »
Derek Amato wasn’t born a musical savant. He became one—almost instantly—after hitting his head on the bottom of a swimming pool.
This week, Harvard researcher Dan Gilbert tells us why we’re bad at predicting our future happiness, how that affects our decision making, and why we are actually happier after making a decision that feels irrevocable.
This week on Hidden Brain, we explore real and fake, from fine art to fine wine. Shankar speaks with Noah Charney, author of The Art of Forgery, about why art forgers are compelled to spend their lives copying the great masters, and why so many of them want to get caught. Also this week: why we love studies that prove wine connoisseurs wrong.
