But that can blind us to a very simple source of joy that's all around us. HIDDEN BRAIN < Lost in Translation: January 29, 20189:00 PM ET VEDANTAM: Well, that's kind of you, Lera. But I understand that in Spanish, this would come out quite differently. Languages are not just tools to describe the world. Purpose can also boost our health and longevity. But actually, it's something that's not so hard to learn. They can be small differences but important in other ways. VEDANTAM: I asked Lera how describing the word chair or the word bridge as masculine or feminine changes the way that speakers of different languages think about those concepts. And if that is true, then the educated person can look down on people who say Billy and me went to the store or who are using literally, quote, unquote, "wrong" and condemn them in the kinds of terms that once were ordinary for condemning black people or women or what have you. Imagine this. In The Air We Breathe . So you may start with moving your southwest leg in, but then you have to move your northeast leg out. native tongue without even thinking about it. Many of us believe that hard work and persistence are the key to achieving our goals. And so I was trying to keep track of which way is which. In a lot of languages, there isn't. You have to do it in order to fit into the culture and to speak the language. So if you took a bunch of those tendencies, you could make up, say, the English of 50 years from now, but some of the things would just be complete chance. So I just think that it's something we need to check ourselves for. MCWHORTER: Thank you for having me, Shankar. So maybe they're saying bridges are beautiful and elegant, not because they're grammatically feminine in the language, but because the bridges they have are, in fact, more beautiful and elegant. We recommend movies or books to a friend. Our transcripts are provided by various partners and may contain errors or deviate slightly from the audio. In this episode, we explore how long-term relationships have changed over time and whether we might be able to improve marriage by asking less of it. VEDANTAM: Jennifer moved to Japan for graduate school. Of course, if you can't keep track of exactly seven, you can't count. I just don't want to do it. And we teach them, for example, to say that bridges and apples and all kinds of other things have the same prefix as women. And so even though I insist that there is no scientific basis for rejecting some new word or some new meaning or some new construction, I certainly have my visceral biases. So you can't know how the words are going to come out, but you can take good guesses. We always knew that certain species of animals had abilities to orient that we thought were better than human, and we always had some biological excuse for why we couldn't do it. If you grew up speaking a language other than English, you probably reach for words in your native tongue without even thinking about it. But, in fact, they were reflecting this little quirk of grammar, this little quirk of their language and in some cases, you know, carving those quirks of grammar into stone because when you look at statues that we have around - of liberty and justice and things like this - they have gender. Let's start with the word literally. And it's sad that we're not going to be able to make use of them and learn them and celebrate them. BORODITSKY: It's certainly possible. And MIT linguist Ken Hale, who's a renowned linguist, said that every time a language dies, it's the equivalent of a bomb being dropped on the Louvre. But is that true when it comes to the pursuit of happiness? VEDANTAM: Many of us have dictionaries at home or at work, John. There's a way of speaking right. This week, we revisit a favorite episode from 2021, bringing you two stories about how easy it can be to believe in a false reality even when the facts dont back us up. Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships. Whats going on here? It's never going to. And it irritates people, but there's a different way of seeing literally. MCWHORTER: Yeah, I really do. . Sometimes, life can feel like being stuck on a treadmill. Maybe they like the same kinds of food, or enjoy the same hobbies. Marcus Butt/Getty Images/Ikon Images Hidden Brain Why Nobody Feels Rich by Shankar Vedantam , Parth Shah , Tara Boyle , Rhaina Cohen September 14, 2020 If you've ever flown in economy class. This week, a story about a con with a twist. So for example, if Sam grabbed a hammer and struck the flute in anger, that would be one description, like, Sam broke the flute. And you can even teach people to have a little bit of fun with the artifice. Learn more. But it's exactly like - it was maybe about 20 years ago that somebody - a girlfriend I had told me that if I wore pants that had little vertical pleats up near the waist, then I was conveying that I was kind of past it. Well, that's an incredibly large set of things, so that's a very broad effect of language. Transcript 585: In Defense of Ignorance Note: This American Life is produced for the ear and designed to be heard. Additional Resources Book: They shape our place in it. So I think that nobody would say that they don't think language should change. If you're a monolingual speaker of one of these languages, you're very likely to say that the word chair is masculine because chairs are, in fact, masculine, right? Long before she began researching languages as a professor, foreign languages loomed large in her life. Purpose can also boost our health and longevity. But it's so hard to feel that partly because our brains are on writing, as I say in the book. And that is an example of a simple feature of language - number words - acting as a transformative stepping stone to a whole domain of knowledge. We love the idea of Hidden Brain helping to spark discussions in your community. All rights reserved. If you're bilingual or multilingual, you may have noticed that different languages make you stretch in different ways. There was no such thing as looking up what it originally meant. VEDANTAM: Time is another concept that is also central to the way we see and describe the world. And some people would say it's a lot more because it's, you know, irrecoverable and not reduplicated elsewhere. How do you balance the imperative of teaching correct usage? Well, if you have a word like that and if it's an intensifier of that kind, you can almost guess that literally is going to come to mean something more like just really. Hidden Brain. BORODITSKY: Yeah. BORODITSKY: Thank you so much for having me. This week, in the fourth and final installment of our Happiness 2.0 series, psychologist Dacher Having a sense of purpose can be a buffer against the challenges we all face at various stages of life. It's never happened. Many of us rush through our days, weeks, and lives, chasing goals, and just trying to get everything done. According to neuroscientists who study laughter, it turns out that chuckles and giggles often aren't a response to humorthey're a response to people. In the United States, we often praise people with strong convictions, and look down on those who express doubt or hesitation. So there are some differences that are as big as you can possibly measure. Of course that's how you BORODITSKY: And so what was remarkable for me was that my brain figured out a really good solution to the problem after a week of trying, right? Personal Strivings: An Approach to Personality and Subjective Well-being, by Robert A. Emmons, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1986. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. But that can blind us to a very simple source of joy thats all around us. So for example, grammatical gender - because grammatical gender applies to all nouns in your language, that means that language is shaping the way you think about everything that can be named by a noun. Copyright Hidden Brain Media | Privacy Policy. And if the word bridge is masculine in your language, you're more likely to say that bridges are strong and long and towering - these kind of more stereotypically masculine words. Physicist Richard Feynman once said, "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool." One way we fool ourselves is by imagining we know more than we do; we think we are experts. And it's just too much of an effort, and you can't be bothered to do it, even though it's such a small thing. Whats going on here? Accuracy and availability may vary. Time now for "My Unsung Hero," our series from the team at Hidden Brain telling the stories of . We convince a colleague to take a different tactic at work. This takes kids a little while to figure out, and he had all kinds of clever ways to ask these questions. But what happens when these feelings catch up with us? GEACONE-CRUZ: And you're at home in your pajamas, all nice and cuddly and maybe watching Netflix or something. Many of us rush through our lives, chasing goals and just trying to get everything done. You can find the transcript for most episodes of Hidden Brain on our website. VEDANTAM: My guest today is - well, why don't I let her introduce herself? You can support Hidden Brain indirectly by giving to your local NPR station, or you can provide direct support to Hidden Brain by making a gift on our Patreon page. VEDANTAM: Jennifer moved to Japan for graduate school. And there are consequences for how people think about events, what they notice when they see accidents. Welcome to HIDDEN BRAIN. Toula and Ian's different backgrounds become apparent on one of their very first dates. How to Foster Perceived Partner Responsiveness: High-Quality LIstening is Key, by Guy Itzchakov, Harry Reis, and Netta Weinstein, Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2021. Everyone wants to be loved and appreciated. Does a speaker of a language, like Spanish, who has to assign gender to so many things, end up seeing the world as more gendered? Look at it. VEDANTAM: I'm Shankar Vedantam. VEDANTAM: Languages orient us to the world. something, even though it shouldn't be so much of an effort. Refusing to Apologize can have Psychological Benefits, by Tyler Okimoto, Michael Wenzel and Kyli Hedrick, European Journal of Social Psychology, 2013. It's part of a general running indication that everything's OK between you and the other person, just like one's expected to smile a little bit in most interactions. Our transcripts are provided by various partners and may contain errors or deviate slightly from the audio. Interpersonal Chemistry: What Is It, How Does It Emerge, and How Does it Operate? You can't know, but you can certainly know that if could listen to people 50 years from now, they'd sound odd. As you're going about your day, you likely interact with family, friends and coworkers. MCWHORTER: Yeah. BORODITSKY: Well, I think it's a terrible tragedy. Official Website Airs on: SUN 7pm-8pm 55:27 Happiness 2.0: The Reset Button Feb 27 Many of us rush through our lives, chasing goals and just trying to get everything done. I just don't want to do it. So in English, I might say that Sam (ph) broke the flute. And if people heard the sounds a little differently and produced them a little differently, if there were new meanings of words - very quickly whatever the original meaning was wouldn't be remembered. Purpose can also boost our health and longevity. MCWHORTER: Yes, that's exactly true. So bilinguals are kind of this in-between case where they can't quite turn off their other languages, but they become more prominent, more salient when you are actually speaking the language or surrounded by the language. Those are quirks of grammar literally in stone. And they asked me all kinds of questions about them. Perceived Responses to Capitalization Attempts are Influenced by Self-Esteem and Relationship Threat, by Shannon M. Smith & Harry Reis, Personal Relationships, 2012. What do you think the implications are - if you buy the idea that languages are a very specific and unique way of seeing the world, of perceiving reality, what are the implications of so many languages disappearing during our time? VEDANTAM: So all this raises a really interesting question. So for example, you might not imagine the color shirt that he's wearing or the kinds of shoes that he's wearing. Many of us rush through our lives, chasing goals and just trying to get everything done. How to Foster Perceived Partner Responsiveness: High-Quality LIstening is Key, Perceived Partner Responsiveness Scale (PPRS), Toward Understanding Understanding:The Importance of Feeling Understood in Relationships, Perceived Responses to Capitalization Attempts are Influenced by Self-Esteem and Relationship Threat, Perceived Partner Responsiveness Minimizes Defensive Reactions to Failure, Assessing the Seeds of Relationship Decay: Using Implicit Evaluations to Detect the Early Stages of Disillusionment. If you liked . Today in our Happiness 2.0 series, we revisit a favorite episode from 2020. The size of this effect really quite surprised me because I would have thought at the outset that, you know, artists are these iconoclasts. But is that true when it comes to the pursuit of happiness? This week on Hidden Brain, psychologist Adam Grant describes the magic th It's how we think about anything that's abstract, that's beyond our physical senses. - you would have to say something like, my arm got broken, or it so happened to me that my arm is broken. Special thanks to Adam Cole, who wrote and performed our rendition of "The Hokey Pokey." VEDANTAM: In the English-speaking world, she goes by Lera Boroditsky. This is NPR. And if they were facing east, they would make the cards come toward them, toward the body. That is the direction of writing in Hebrew and Arabic, going from right to left. UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) If you're so upset about it, maybe you can think of a way to help her. The best Podcast API to search all podcasts and episodes. Sociologist Lisa Wade believes the pervasive hookup culture on campuses today is different from that faced by previous generations. "Most of the laughter we produce is purely . That kind of detail may not appear. But what happens when these feelings catch up with us? Psychologist Ken Sheldon studies the science of figuring out what you want. I saw this bird's-eye view, and I was this little red dot. For more on decision-making, check out our episode on how to make wiser choices. And if it was feminine, then you're likely to paint death as a woman. And there are all kinds of interesting, useful, eye-opening ideas that exist in all of the world's languages. VEDANTAM: So I want to talk about a debate that's raged in your field for many years. Today in our Happiness 2.0 series, we revisit a favorite episode from 2020. I'm Shankar Vedantam. So when the perfect woman started writing him letters, it seemed too good to be true. I'm Shankar Vedanta. In this week's My Unsung Hero, Sarah Feldman thanks someone for their gift more than 20 years ago. Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships. Stay with us. And maybe the convenience store or the shop is really not that far away. Copyright Hidden Brain Media | Privacy Policy, direct support to Hidden Brain by making a gift on our Patreon page, sponsorship opportunities on Hidden Brain. We'll begin with police shootings of unarmed Black men. UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character) I'm willing to get involved. My big fat greek wedding, an american woman of greek ancestry falls in love with a very vanilla, american man. What techniques did that person use to persuade you? How else would you do it? VEDANTAM: For more HIDDEN BRAIN, you can find us on Facebook and Twitter. It has to do with the word momentarily. Sometimes, life can feel like being stuck on a treadmill. How do certain memes go viral? MCWHORTER: Exactly. VEDANTAM: Still don't have a clear picture? by Harry T. Reis, Annie Regan, and Sonja Lyubomirsky, Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2021.
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