Hidden Brain

But there was also an essay in there called Famine, Affluence, and Morality, which was written during the Bengali War in 1971 and was an argument that people in rich countries have a moral obligation to give to people in poor countries when doing that doesn't cost them much for their standard of living.

Andres, welcome to Hidden Brain.

It is a pleasure to be here. Thank you so much for having me.

He's the author of The Other Slavery, the Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America.

I call it other slavery in the sense that not only that it targeted Native Americans as opposed to Africans, but also in the sense that it encompassed a multiplicity of institutions or labor practices that we really need to put together and understand together if we want to gain a sense of the scope of these other slavery, as I call it.

Andres Resendez is a history professor at the University of California, Davis. He's the author of The Other Slavery, the Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America.

Mary Helen Imordino Yang is a psychologist and neuroscientist at the University of Southern California. She is the author of Emotions, Learning and the Brain, Exploring the Educational Implications of Affective Neuroscience.

At Stanford University, psychologist Jamil Zaki studies the effects of these beliefs on our well-being. In his book, Hope for Cynics, The Surprising Science of Human Goodness, Jamil explores the psychology of cynicism and the ways it affects our lives.

He says that cynicism doesn't just erode our mental health, it also undermines our ability to fix our toughest problems.

Jamil Zaki is a psychologist at Stanford University. He's the author of Hope for Cynics, The Surprising Science of Human Goodness.

Leidy Klotz is a professor of engineering at the University of Virginia. He's the author of Subtract, The Untapped Power of Less.

His two great books were The Wealth of Nations, as is well known, but also The Theory of Moral Sentiments.

In their new book, The Power of Us, the psychologists J. Van Bevel and Dominic Packer explore how group identities pull us together and how they tear us apart.

Psychologists J. Van Bevel and Dominic Packer are the authors of The Power of Us, harnessing our shared identities to improve performance, increase cooperation and promote social harmony.

His book, Influence, The Psychology of Persuasion, lays out several techniques that he learned undercover while attending trainings for salespeople, fundraisers and recruiters.

It's called Modern Romance. We taped a live conversation at George Washington University's Listener Auditorium, and we played an excerpt for you in the fall.

For those who doubt me, here's an example from a show I did at the Chicago Theater in the spring of 2014.

But in reality, when they do study after study, they find the more options you have, the harder it is to make a decision. And when you do make a decision, you end up being less satisfied because you're thinking about whether you made the wrong decision or whether one of these other things would have been a better match for you.

Cause I mean, like there's just too much God damn jam out there. Like, you know, you go on a date and you go to the bathroom, like a few pieces of jam have texted you. You're like, what the is this?

That's comedian Aziz Ansari. His book, written with the sociologist Eric Kleinenberg, is Modern Romance.

In your book, Ritual, How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living, you say that it's a mistake to think of rituals as primarily being about what we do in the outside world. The real purpose of rituals is for us to hack into our own inner worlds?

Dimitris Ziggalatas is an anthropologist at the University of Connecticut. He's the author of Ritual, How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living.

Anthropologist Dimitris Zigalatas is the author of Ritual, How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living.

In The Gift of the Magi, a short story written by O. Henry and published in 1905, a young husband and wife each struggle privately with a dilemma.

the Magi, as you know, were wise men, wonderfully who brought gifts to the babe in the manger.

They invented the art of giving Christmas presents.

But in a last word to the wise of these days, let it be said that of all who give gifts, these two were the wisest.

Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are the wisest.

Sal Kassan is a psychologist at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He's the author of Duped--Why Innocent People Confess and Why We Believe Their Confessions.

In her book Happier Hour Cassie suggests there's a radically different way to think about time.

Cassie Holmes is a social psychologist at UCLA. She's the author of Happier Hour, How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time and Focus on What Matters Most.

Tessa West is a psychologist at NYU. She's also the author of the book, Jerks at Work, Toxic Coworkers and What to Do About Them.

Her research distinguishes between the model of emotion prominent in Western countries and other conceptions of emotions that dominate cultures elsewhere in the world.

Bhatia Mesquida is a professor of psychology at the University of Leuven in Belgium. She's the author of the book Between Us, How Cultures Create Emotions.

Chris Blattman is an economist and political scientist at the University of Chicago. He's the author of Why We Fight The Roots of War and the Paths to Peace.

Psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman studies the science of human potential. He's the author of Ungifted, intelligence redefined and transcend the new science of self-actualization.

Psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman studies the science of human potential. He's the author of ungifted, intelligence redefined and Transcend the new science of self-actualization.

Brad Klons is a psychologist at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska he is the author of the book Mind over Money he studies the thoughts attitudes and beliefs that people have about money Brad calls these are money scripts.

Brad Klontz is a psychologist at Creighton University he's a co-founder of the Financial Psychology Institute and he's the author of Mind over Money.