Hidden Brain

The work of researchers like Lillian was critical as we put together this episode.

Our unsung hero is Lillian Fadiman. She's a scholar who wrote a comprehensive history of the gay rights movement it was titled, The Gay Revolution.

Jamil Zaki is a psychologist at Stanford University. He's the author of the book The War for Kindness, Building Empathy in a Fractured World.

Jameel Zaki is the author of The War for Kindness, Building Empathy in a Fractured World.

Jamil Zaki is the author of The War for Kindness Building Empathy in a Fractured World.

He's the author of the book The War for Kindness, Building Empathy in a Fractured World.

Jamil Zaki is the author of The War for Kindness, Building Empathy in a Fractured World.

For a time, he wrote porn under the pseudonym Zachary Quill. One of his books, Glowing Heat.

One of his books, Glowing Heat.

This is Dan Ariely, researcher and author of The book, The Honest Truth About Dishonesty, how we lie to everyone, especially ourselves.

Dan Ariely is a professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University. He's The author of The book, The Honest Truth About Dishonesty.

This is Dan Ariely, researcher and author of The book The Honest Truth About Dishonesty How We Lie To Everyone, Especially Ourselves

He's The author of The book The Honest Truth About Dishonesty.

You've made The case in several books and articles that lying and deception is not usually about a rational cost-benefit equation where people are balancing The advantages of deception against The risk of getting caught, but about something that you call The fudge factor.

What's The fudge factor?

And sadly I think I'm creative.

She's the author of Elements of Surprise, Our Mental Limits and The Satisfactions of Plot.

Vera Torben is a cognitive scientist at Case Western Reserve University. She's the author of the book, Elements of Surprise, Our Mental Limits and the Satisfactions of Plot.

She's the author of Elements of Surprise, Our Mental Limits and The Satisfactions of Plot.

Vera Torben is a cognitive scientist at Case Western Reserve University. She's the author of the book, Elements of Surprise, Our Mental Limits and the Satisfactions of Plot.

This weekend I found this book and it's called It's Mine.

They said, 'stay out of the pond, yelled Milton. The water is mine!' 'Get off the island,' shouted Rupert. 'The earth is mine!'

But they felt better now that they were together, sharing the same fears and hopes.

We can work together, can't we? Because at the beginning of the story when they were saying it's mine, it's mine, was anybody having fun? No. No. But get it, the frogs are happier when they stop being selfish.

This weekend I found this book and it's called It's Mine.

It's not enough to have the data. ... it has to be communicated in a way that would really tap into people's needs, their desires.

What really helped is that I understood what was happening to me. ... I knew how it was going to affect me. And I think that awareness helped me to put it aside and say, okay I know that I am anxious for the wrong reasons and this is the action that I should take.

Confirmation bias is our tendency to take in any kind of data that confirms our prior convictions and to disregard data that does not conform to what we already believe.

Fear works in two situations. It works when people are ready, stressed out, and it also works when what you're trying to do is get someone not to do something, an inaction.

So by eliciting emotion, what you're able to do is change the perception of everything that comes after, to perceive information as the person who's giving the speech wants you to perceive it.

In her upcoming book, The Influential Mind, she explores how our minds work, why we ignore the facts, and how you can get people to actually listen to the truth.

So I give an example in my book where if someone comes in and says, I just saw pink elephants flying in the sky, and I have a very strong belief obviously that no pink elephants fly in the sky,

And the further away the piece of data is from what you already believe, the less likely it is to change your belief.

it also means that it's really hard to change false beliefs.

If there's, you know, an apple that looks bad, I don't eat it. Fear is actually not such a good motivator for inducing action.

I started thinking about this book really through being inspired by Thorstein Veblen's book The Theory of the Leisure Class which I read many many years ago as a graduate student and continue to refer to in my later work and I was fascinated with his ability to Characterize day-to-day behavior that revealed social position and economic position But I also knew that things had changed a lot and these you know ways in which we showed social position were not material anymore or or not entirely material.

You know the wealthy bought silver spoons and even though they weren't more useful In fact people purchased them because they were a sign of status.

She was inspired by Thorstein Veblen's book The Theory of the Leisure Class, which she read many years ago as a graduate student.

Yoga Breastfeeding buying organic food attending farmers markets listening to NPR, you know reading the books on the New York Times bestseller list These are all physical manifestations of Your cultural capital right?

Elizabeth Curritt Halcutt is a professor at the University of Southern California She's the author of starstruck and The Sum of Small Things a theory of the aspirational class

She is the author of Starstruck and The Sum of Small Things: A Theory of the Aspirational Class.

Alan Alda, welcome to Hit and Break Thank you I want to start by asking you about an episode in your life some years ago You were sitting in a dentist's chair and the dentist had a very sharp instrument a couple of inches from your mouth What happened next?

I taped a conversation with Alan at a live event in Washington, D.C. about his new book If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face?

Alan Alda's book is called If I Understood You Would I Have This Look on My Face? My Adventures in the Art and Science of Relating and Communicating.

that's really the heart of my book the idea that you must listen to the other actor is so fundamental to me that that's in a way the essence of it you can't have spontaneity

things I've learned as an actor have made me understand the importance of how that doctor, Nelson Zepeda, in Chile in the middle of the night, 13 or 14 years ago, how he made a real effort to communicate with me and it made all the difference for me.

His new book is If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face?

Alan Alda's book is called, If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face? My Adventures in the Art and Science of Relating and Communicating.

I'm a professor in American Studies at the University of Maryland.

So I always head right for the infant's department first to see how much pink there is and how many things you could put either a boy or a girl in.

You know, one of my taglines that I'm going to put on my business card is, I think, deep thoughts about shallow things. It's what you do when you study popular culture.

A lot of navy blue and olive and brown and black and gray. The boys' shirts, sweaters, jackets, and pants have pictures of trucks, bulldozers, sports cars, and cute macho sayings.

It's a pocket because he's a boy.

So I always head right for the infant's department first to see how much pink there is...and how many things you could put either a boy or a girl in.

You know, one of my taglines that I'm going to put on my business card is...I think deep thoughts about shallow things.

It's what you do when you study popular culture. You can't just say, well, I'm only going to study the intellectual stuff.

What we think of now as, it's just a law, right, that pink is for girls and blue is for boys. That was invented too.

A girl can wear blue. I look around and I see plenty of blue things and nobody says, oh she's wearing blue, she must be a boy or she's wearing blue, her mother must be making a statement about gender politics.

He's the author of the book, Invisible Influence, The Hidden Forces That Shape Behavior.

One of the interesting things about the entire field of social psychology, and you talk about this at some length in the book, is the idea that people don't see themselves as clearly as they see other people.

You tell a story in the book about a friend of yours who's a lawyer, and he has some strong views about younger lawyers and their BMWs.

So as I was reading this section of the book, I started thinking immediately about driverless cars and the concerns and trepidations that many people have about cars that seem to drive themselves.

My guest today has spent a lot of time thinking about these forces that act on us. Jonah Berger is a marketing professor at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of the book, Invisible Influence, The Hidden Forces That Shape Behavior.

One of the interesting things about the entire field of social psychology, and you talk about this at some length in the book, is the idea that people don't see themselves as clearly as they see other people.

You tell a story in the book about a friend of yours who's a lawyer, and he has some strong views about younger lawyers and their BMWs.

So I was writing this book and I was talking to a good friend of mine who's from Washington, D.C., and they happen to be a lawyer.

As I was reading this section of the book, I started thinking immediately about driverless cars and the concerns and trepidations that many people have about cars that seem to drive themselves.

Clay, welcome to Hidden Brain.

In your book, you describe the origin of the word Nostalgia.

Clay Rutledge is a psychology professor at North Dakota State University. He's the author of Nostalgia, A Psychological Resource.

In your book, you describe the origin of the word Nostalgia.

Clay, welcome to Hidden Brain.

Thank you for having me.

Clay Rutledge is a psychology professor at North Dakota State University. He's the author of Nostalgia, A Psychological Resource.

When I first heard Allison McAdam's story about her comfort blanket I remembered a wonderful book by the writer Deborah Blum. It explored the powerful role that touch plays in our lives.

You describe in your book something that seems very surprising to me which is that back in the 1950s there were many prominent behavioral experts who believed that touch was a problem.

The early books told mothers not to hold their children at all. If they could avoid it, that it would ruin the moral fiber of the child.

He gave a speech, it's still one of my favorite speeches ever in the history of science called The Nature of Love.

And he said, and I think this is correct, there's a lot of parents who get this. They're not listening to you because you have gotten this wrong and the nature of love is about touch and comfort.

It's so fascinating to look back on that period and think to yourself, how could you get that so wrong?

He gave a speech. It's still one of my favorite speeches ever in the history of science called The Nature of Love.

And he said, and I think this is correct, there's a lot of parents who get this. They're not listening to you because you have gotten this wrong.

The Nature of Love is about touch and comfort. And my favorite part of the Harlow message, the nature of love is every day. I'm there for you, which is what touch says.

They still have an important message, and you can love or hate Harry Harlow, and people do both, right? But some of the messages, some of the ideas, some of the things that he tried to teach still matter.

He's the author of The Upside of Your Dark Side, Why Being Your Whole Self, Not Just Your Good Self, Drives Success and Fulfillment.

He's the author of The Art of Insubordination, How to Dissent and Defy Effectively and The Upside of Your Dark Side, Why Being Your Whole Self, Not Just Your Good Self, Drives Success and Fulfillment.

He is the author of The Upside of Your Dark Side, Why Being Your Whole Self, Not Just Your Good Self, Drives Success and Fulfillment.

He's the author of ... The Upside of Your Dark Side, Why Being Your Whole Self, Not Just Your Good Self, Drives Success and Fulfillment.

Psychologist James Pennebaker is the author of The Secret Life of Pronouns, What Our Words Say About Us.

Psychologist James Pennebaker is the author of The Secret Life of Pronouns, What Our Words Say About Us.

She's the author of The Fear Factor, How One Emotion Connects Altruists, Psychopaths, and Everyone In Between.

Abigail Marsh is a psychologist and neuroscientist at Georgetown University. She's the author of The Fear Factor, How One Emotion Connects Altruists, Psychopaths, and Everyone In Between.

Abigail Marsh is a psychologist and neuroscientist at Georgetown University. She's the author of The Fear Factor, How One Emotion Connects Altruists, Psychopaths, and Everyone in Between.

Ranjay Gulati is a behavioral scientist at Harvard Business School. He's the author of How to Be Bold, The Surprising Science of Everyday Courage.

Ranjay Gulati is a behavioral scientist at Harvard Business School. He's the author of How to Be Bold, The Surprising Science of Everyday Courage.

Ranjay Gulati is the author of How to Be Bold, The Surprising Science of Everyday Courage.

He is the author of Rise Above, Overcome a Victim Mindset, Empower Yourself, and Realize Your Full Potential.

Scott Barry Kaufman is a psychologist at Columbia University. He is the author of Rise Above, Overcome a Victim Mindset, Empower Yourself, and Realize Your Full Potential.