The Conversations that Bring Us Closer
We talk with Alison Wood Brooks about what makes difficult conversations difficult, and a series of psychological techniques to help you navigate them.
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psychology
We Need to Talk
Just because we’ve been doing something for a long time doesn’t mean we’re doing it right. This may be particularly true when it comes to our skills as conversationalists. This week, we bring you the first of a two-part look at what makes someone skilled at talking with others.
Wellness 2.0: When It’s All Too Much
It’s no exaggeration to say that the world in 2025 can be … a lot. Sometimes it may seem that tuning it all out is our only option. This week on Hidden Brain, we talk with researcher Sarah Jaquette Ray about how we can reclaim our sense of efficacy and purpose in the face of big, systemic
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Wellness 2.0: Rising to the Occasion
From time to time, all of us are called upon to do hard or even seemingly impossible things. Do we rise to the occasion, or do we fall short?
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How To Be More Creative
Creative breakthroughs often seem to arise without explanation. But researchers increasingly find there is a science to cultivating creativity.
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What Your Online Self Reveals About You
Every day, we leave small traces of ourselves online. This week, computational social scientist Sandra Matz explores how understanding what we actually do online – not just what we think we do – can help us improve our lives.
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How Monsters Are Made
What makes ordinary people do evil things? It was a question that long fascinated the psychologist Philip Zimbardo, who died in October. Zimbardo was best known for the controversial Stanford prison experiment, in which he created a simulated prison in the basement of a university building and recruited volunteers to act as prisoners and guards. This week, we explore how Zimbardo came to create one of psychology’s most notorious experiments – and inadvertently became the poster child for the human weaknesses he was trying to study.
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Emotions 2.0: The Logic of Rage
Neuroscientist Doug Fields was on a trip to Europe when a pickpocket stole his wallet. Doug, normally mild-mannered, became enraged — and his fury turned him into a stranger to himself. This week, we revisit a favorite 2020 episode about the secret logic of irrational anger.
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Emotions 2.0: When I Feel What You Feel
This week, we kick off our new series, Emotions 2.0, with a special double episode about the emotions we experience with other people. 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
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How To Win People Over
We humans are a social species, and so it’s not surprising that we care a lot about what other people think of us. It’s also not surprising that many of us stumble when we try to manage others’ views of us. This week, organizational psychologist Alison Fragale explains why that is, and offers better ways to win friends and influence people.
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