They're more likely to see through this little game that language has played on them. VEDANTAM: For more HIDDEN BRAIN, you can find us on Facebook and Twitter. BORODITSKY: Actually, one of the first people to notice or suggest that this might be the case was a Russian linguist, Roman Jakobson. VEDANTAM: I want to talk in the second half of our conversation about why the meanings of words change, but I want to start by talking about how they change. Additional Resources Book: 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. Imagine this. FDA blocks human trials for Neuralink brain implants. You can't know, but you can certainly know that if could listen to people 50 years from now, they'd sound odd. VEDANTAM: It took just one week of living in Japan for Jennifer to pick up an important, VEDANTAM: There isn't a straightforward translation of this phrase in English. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #9: (Speaking German). Are the spoken origins of language one reason that words so often seem to be on the move? Purpose can also boost our health and longevity. He. JENNIFER GEACONE-CRUZ: My name is Jennifer Geacone-Cruz. The phrase brings an entire world with it - its context, its flavor, its culture. So you can't know how the words are going to come out, but you can take good guesses. : The Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Benefits of Sharing Positive Events, Perceived Partner Responsiveness as an Organizing Construct in the Study of Intimacy and Closeness, Read the latest from the Hidden Brain Newsletter. UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #3: (Speaking foreign language). VEDANTAM: Jennifer moved to Japan for graduate school. John is a professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University. . In this month's Radio Replay, we ask whether the structure of the languages we speak can change the way we see the world. BORODITSKY: Thank you so much for having me. But what happens when these feelings catch up with us? This week, in the final installment of our Happiness 2.0 series, psychologist Dacher Keltner describes what happens when we stop to sav, Sometimes, life can feel like being stuck on a treadmill. That was somehow a dad's fashion, and that I should start wearing flat-fronted pants. Our transcripts are provided by various partners and may contain errors or deviate slightly from the audio. Long before she began researching languages as a professor, foreign languages loomed large in her life. VEDANTAM: It took just one week of living in Japan for Jennifer to pick up an important new term. You can search for the episode or browse all episodes on our Archive Page. So we've done a lot of studies looking at how speakers of Spanish and German and Russian actually think about objects that have opposite grammatical genders. BORODITSKY: I spoke really terrible Indonesian at the time, so I was trying to practice. Researcher Elizabeth Dunn helps us map out Having a sense of purpose can be a buffer against the challenges we all face at various stages of life. 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 this favorite episode from 2021, Cornell University psychologist Anthony Burrow explains why purpose isnt something to be found its somethi, It's natural to want to run away from difficult emotions such as grief, anger and fear. The transcript below may be for an earlier version of this episode. Athletic Scholarships are Negatively Associated with Intrinsic Motivation for Sports, Even Decades Later: Evidence for Long-Term Undermining, by Kennon M. Sheldon and Arlen C. Moller, Motivation Science, 2020. VEDANTAM: Lera Boroditsky is a cognitive science professor at the University of California, San Diego. And I don't think any of us are thinking that it's a shame that we're not using the language of Beowulf. : A Data-Driven Prescription to Redefine Professional Success, Does Legal Education Have Undermining Effects on Law Students? So that's an example of how languages and cultures construct how we use space to organize time, to organize this very abstract thing that's otherwise kind of hard to get our hands on and think about. You can find the transcript for most episodes of Hidden Brain on our website. The transcript below may be for an earlier version of this episode. In the final episode of our "Mind Reading 2.0" series, we bring back one of our favorite conversations, with linguist Deborah Tannen. And I was telling this person about someone I knew back in America. So in terms of the size of differences, there are certainly effects that are really, really big. L. Gable, et. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #5: (Speaking foreign language). I'm Shankar Vedantam. And nobody wishes that we hadn't developed our modern languages today from the ancient versions. Parents and peers influence our major life choices. Learn more. ), The Sourcebook of Listening Research: Methodology and Measures, 2018. Purpose can also boost our health and longevity. Go behind the scenes, see what Shankar is reading and find more useful resources and links. We convince a colleague to take a different tactic at work. And there are all kinds of interesting, useful, eye-opening ideas that exist in all of the world's languages. 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. Having a sense of purpose can be a buffer against the challenges we all face at various stages of life. VEDANTAM: So all this raises a really interesting question. Many of us believe that hard work and persistence are the key to achieving our goals. So if the word for death was masculine in your language, you were likely to paint death as a man. Copyright Hidden Brain Media | Privacy Policy. Many of us rush through our days, weeks, and lives, chasing goals, and just trying to get everything done. I'm . You may also use the Hidden Brain name in invitations sent to a small group of personal contacts for such purposes as a listening club or discussion forum. Cholera and malnourishment await Somalis fleeing . Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. But that can blind us to a very simple source of joy thats all around us. If a transcript is available, youll see a Transcript button which expands to reveal the full transcript. So you might say, there's an ant on your northwest leg. Many of us rush through our days, weeks, and lives, chasing goals, and just trying to get everything done. What Do You Do When Things Go Right? We're speaking today with cognitive science professor Lera Boroditsky about language. This is NPR. And I kind of sheepishly confessed this to someone there. Now, many people hear that and they think, well, that's no good because now literally can mean its opposite. Purpose can also boost our health and longevity. But actually, it's something that's not so hard to learn. this is hidden brain I'm Shankar Vedantam in the classic TV series Star Trek Mister Spock has a foolproof technique for accurately reading the thoughts and feelings of others the Vulcan mind I am Spock you James our minds are moving closer most most here are kind of hard we have new technology that gives us direct access to the minds of others so Languages are not just tools. This is HIDDEN BRAIN. Subscribe: iOS | Android | Spotify | RSS | Amazon | Stitcher Latest Episodes: Happiness 2.0: The Reset Button You can't smell or taste time. And if you don't have a word for exactly seven, it actually becomes very, very hard to keep track of exactly seven. BORODITSKY: Yeah, that's true. You couldn't have predicted this I know-uh move-uh (ph). She shows how our conversational styles can cause We all know casual sex isn't about love. Perceived Partner Responsiveness Minimizes Defensive Reactions to Failure, by Peter A. Caprariello and Harry T. Reis, Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2011. When we come back, we dig further into the way that gender works in different languages and the pervasive effects that words can play in our lives. Another possibility is that it's a fully integrated mind, and it just incorporates ideas and distinctions from both languages or from many languages if you speak more than two. edit transcripts, Improve the presence of your podcasts, e.g., self-service, If you share your Listen Notes page and at-mention. 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. This is Hidden Brain. BORODITSKY: The way to say my name properly in Russian is (speaking foreign language), so I don't make people say that. That's the way words are, too. These relationships can help you feel cared for and connected. Go behind the scenes, see what Shankar is reading and find more useful resources and links. This is Hidden Brain. Of course, if you can't keep track of exactly seven, you can't count. See you next week. I decided it was very important for me to learn English because I had always been a very verbal kid, and I'd - was always the person who recited poems in front of the school and, you know, led assemblies and things like that. We talk with psychologist Iris Mauss, who explains why happiness can seem more el, When we want something very badly, it can be hard to see warning signs that might be obvious to other people. VEDANTAM: Lera now tries to understand languages spoken all over the world. Hidden Brain Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships. So some languages don't have number words. A free podcast app for iPhone and Android, Download episodes while on WiFi to listen without using mobile data, Stream podcast episodes without waiting for a download, Queue episodes to create a personal continuous playlist, Web embed players designed to convert visitors to listeners in the RadioPublic apps for iPhone and Android, Capture listener activity with affinity scores, Measure your promotional campaigns and integrate with Google and Facebook analytics, Deliver timely Calls To Action, including email acquistion for your mailing list, Share exactly the right moment in an episode via text, email, and social media, Tip and transfer funds directly to podcastsers, Earn money for qualified plays in the RadioPublic apps with Paid Listens. VEDANTAM: If languages are shaped by the way people see the world, but they also shape how people see the world, what does this mean for people who are bilingual? Hidden Brain. Many of us rush through our lives, chasing goals and just trying to get everything done. You can find all Hidden Brain episodes on our website. She once visited an aboriginal community in northern Australia and found the language they spoke forced her mind to work in new ways. But what most people mean is that there'll be slang, that there'll be new words for new things and that some of those words will probably come from other languages. GEACONE-CRUZ: It describes this feeling so perfectly in such a wonderfully packaged, encapsulated way. If you, grew up speaking a language other than English, you probably reach for words in your. Women under about 30 in the United States, when they're excited or they're trying to underline a point, putting uh at the end of things. This week, we're going to bring you a conversation I had in front of a live audience with Richard Thaler, taped on Halloween at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel in Washington, D. Richard is a professor of behavioral sciences and economics at the University of Chicago and is a well-known author. It's never going to. GEACONE-CRUZ: And you're at home in your pajamas, all nice and cuddly and maybe watching Netflix or something. But that can blind us to a very simple source of joy that's all around us. Perceived Partner Responsiveness Scale (PPRS), by Harry T. Reis et. Hidden Brain Feb 23, 2023 Happiness 2.0: Surprising Sources of Joy Sometimes, life can feel like being stuck on a treadmill. Refusing to Apologize can have Psychological Benefits, by Tyler Okimoto, Michael Wenzel and Kyli Hedrick, European Journal of Social Psychology, 2013. Today, we explore the many facets of this idea. Happiness 2.0: The Reset Button. Let's start with the word literally. Rightly Crossing the Rubicon: Evaluating Goal Self-Concordance Prior to Selection Helps People Choose More Intrinsic Goals, by Kennon M. Sheldon, Mike Prentice, and Evgeny Osin, Journal of Research in Personality, 2019. For more on decision-making, check out our episode on how to make wiser choices. So I just think that it's something we need to check ourselves for. But what happens when these feelings catch up with us? 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. It's just how I feel. Parents and peers influence our major life choices. You may link to our content and copy and paste episode descriptions and Additional Resources into your invitations. 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. You would give a different description to mark that it was not intentional. But that can blind us to a very simple source of joy that's all around us. UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: (Speaking foreign language). Everyone wants to be loved and appreciated. Listen on the Reuters app. And some people would say it's a lot more because it's, you know, irrecoverable and not reduplicated elsewhere. And why do some social movements take off and spread, while others fizzle? But what happens when these feelings catch up with us? And in fact, speakers of languages like this have been shown to orient extremely well - much better than we used to think humans could. 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. And one thing that we've noticed is that around the world, people rely on space to organize time. I'm Shankar Vedanta. ROB LOWE: (As Chris Traeger) Dr. Harris, you are literally the meanest person I have ever met. HIDDEN BRAIN < Lost in Translation: January 29, 20189:00 PM ET VEDANTAM: Well, that's kind of you, Lera. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. VEDANTAM: Would it be possible to use what we have learned about how words and languages evolve to potentially write what a dictionary might look like in 50 years or a hundred years? And maybe the convenience store or the shop is really not that far away. When she was 12, her family came to the United States from the Soviet Union. No matter how hard you try to feel happier, you end up back where. 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. This week, we kick off a month-long series we're calling Happiness 2.0. We couldnt survive without the many public radio stations that support our show and they cant survive without you. Just saying hello was difficult. And after listening to you, I realize I might have to finally give in. The dictionary says both uses are correct. They shape our place in it. And, I mean, really, it sounds exactly like that. Later things are on the right. In the final episode of our Relationships 2.0 series, psychologistHarry Reis says theres another ingredient to successful relationships thats every bit as important as love. And they said, well, of course. But then you start writing things down and you're in a whole new land because once things are sitting there written on that piece of paper, there's that illusion. How come you aren't exactly the way you were 10 years ago? MCWHORTER: Those are called contronyms, and literally has become a new contronym. For example, if you take seeds and put them in the ground, that's one thing. Subscribe to the Hidden Brain Podcast on your favorite podcast player so you never miss an episode. This week, in the second installment of our Happiness 2.0 series, psychologist Todd Kashdan looks at the relationship between distress and happiness, and ho, Many of us believe that hard work and persistence are the key to achieving our goals. Please note that your continued use of the RadioPublic services following the posting of such changes will be deemed an acceptance of this update. BORODITSKY: Well, you would be at sea at first. What a cynical thing to say, but that doesn't mean that it might not be true. BORODITSKY: So quite literally, to get past hello, you have to know which way you're heading. Something new will have started by then, just like if we listen to people in 1971, they sound odd in that they don't say like as much as we do. Thank you! That's how much cultural heritage is lost. The transcript below may be for an earlier version of this episode. Social Functionalist Frameworks for Judgment and Choice: Intuitive Politicians, Theologians, and Prosecutors, by Philip Tetlock, Psychology Review, 2002. And so what that means is if someone was sitting facing south, they would lay out the story from left to right. They believe that their language reflects the true structure of the world. This week, we launch the first of a two-part mini-series on the scie, If you think about the people in your life, it's likely that they share a lot in common with you. How do certain memes go viral? In the second episode of our "Relationships 2.0" series, psychologist Do you ever struggle to communicate with your mom? BORODITSKY: Yeah. Many of us rush through our lives, chasing goals and just trying to get everything done. 4.62. The transcript below may be for an earlier version of this episode. GEACONE-CRUZ: It's a Sunday afternoon, and it's raining outside. So to go back to the example we were just talking about - people who don't use words like left and right - when I gave those picture stories to Kuuk Thaayorre speakers, who use north, south, east and west, they organized the cards from east to west. Can I get some chicken? That is the most random thing. You would never know, for example, that - give you an example I've actually been thinking about. But that can blind us to a very simple source of joy that's all around us. I had this cool experience when I was there. And then if you are going to be that elliptical, why use the casual word get? Shankar Vedantam: This is Hidden Brain. 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. VEDANTAM: My guest today is - well, why don't I let her introduce herself? Sometimes you just have to suck it up. Our transcripts are provided by various partners and may contain errors or deviate slightly from the audio. Hidden Brain: You 2.0: Cultivating Your Purpose on Apple Podcasts 51 min You 2.0: Cultivating Your Purpose Hidden Brain Social Sciences Having a sense of purpose can be a buffer against the challenges we all face at various stages of life. VEDANTAM: I love this analogy you have in the book where you mention how, you know, thinking that a word has only one meaning is like looking at a snapshot taken at one point in a person's life and saying this photograph represents the entirety of what this person looks like. (Speaking Japanese). Whereas speakers of a language like Spanish might not be quite as good at remembering who did it when it's an accident, but they're better at remembering that it was an accident. Personal Strivings: An Approach to Personality and Subjective Well-being, by Robert A. Emmons, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1986. We'll be back momentarily. And I did that. GEACONE-CRUZ: And I ended up living there for 10 years. And as odd as that sounds, I can guarantee you if you watch any TV show with women under a certain age or if you just go out on an American street and listen, you'll find that that's a new kind of exclamatory particle. Not without written permission. I'm Shankar Vedantam. So LOL starts out as meaning hardy-har-har (ph), but then it becomes something more abstract. I saw this bird's-eye view, and I was this little red dot. So that's a measurement difference of 100 percent of performance. But if you seed a watermelon, nobody assumes that you're taking seeds and putting them in the watermelon, you're taking them out. And so for example, if the word chair is masculine in your language, why is that? But what if it's not even about lust? So I think it's something that is quite easy for humans to learn if you just have a reason to want to do it. So in English, I might say that Sam (ph) broke the flute. And you suddenly get a craving for potato chips, and you, realize that you have none in the kitchen, and there's nothing else you really want to, eat. This week, we kick off a month-long series we're calling Happiness 2.0. BORODITSKY: Yeah. But I don't think that it's always clear to us that language has to change in that things are going to come in that we're going to hear as intrusions or as irritating or as mistakes, despite the fact that that's how you get from, say, old Persian to modern Persian. Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships. VEDANTAM: There are phrases in every language that are deeply evocative and often untranslatable. VEDANTAM: As someone who spends a lot of his time listening to language evolve, John hears a lot of slang. What turns out to be the case is that it's something in between - that bilinguals don't really turn off the languages they're not using when they're not using them. What do you do for christmas with your family? All sponsorship opportunities on Hidden Brain are managed by SXM Media. And so, for example, can I get a hamburger? And you say that dictionaries in some ways paint an unrealistic portrait of a language. But is that true when it comes to the pursuit of happiness? Subscribe to the Hidden Brain Podcast on your favorite podcast player so you never miss an episode. Thank you for helping to keep the podcast database up to date. VEDANTAM: Still don't have a clear picture? Go behind the scenes, see what Shankar is reading and find more useful resources and links. We use a lot of music on the show! MCWHORTER: You could have fun doing such a thing. And so I was trying to keep track of which way is which. And then question 21 was, is this person a man or a woman? VEDANTAM: I understand that if you're in a picnic with someone from this community and you notice an ant climbing up someone's left leg, it wouldn't make a lot of sense to tell that person, look, there's an ant on your left leg. Shankar Vedantam, host of the popular podcast "Hidden Brain" has been reporting on human behavior for decades. UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character) I'm willing to get involved. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: (Speaking foreign language). Because it was. There's a way of speaking right. The fun example I give my students is imagine playing the hokey pokey in a language like this. That's because change is hard. Sociologist Lisa Wade believes the pervasive hookup culture on campuses today is different from that faced by previous generations. Our team includes Laura Kwerel, Adhiti Bandlamudi and our supervising producer Tara Boyle. But what I am thinking is, you should realize that even if you don't like it, there's nothing wrong with it in the long run because, for example, Jonathan Swift didn't like it that people were saying kissed instead of kiss-ed (ph) and rebuked instead of rebuk-ed (ph). Many of us believe that hard work and persistence are the key to achieving our goals. ), Handbook of Closeness and Intimacy, 2004. The categorization that language provides to you becomes real, becomes psychologically real. When we come back, we dig further into the way that gender works in different languages and the pervasive effects that words can play in our lives. No matter how hard you try to feel happier, you end up back where you started. This week, we continue our look at the science of influence with psychologist Robert Cialdini, and explore how th, We all exert pressure on each other in ways small and profound. 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. Lots of languages make a distinction between things that are accidents and things that are intentional actions. GEACONE-CRUZ: It describes this feeling so perfectly in such a wonderfully packaged, encapsulated way, and you can just - it rolls off the tongue, and you can just throw it. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. And what he noticed was that when people were trying to act like Monday, they would act like a man. But it turns out humans can stay oriented really, really well, provided that their language and culture requires them to keep track of this information. And then he would take a Polaroid of the kid and say, well, this is you. Subscribe to the Hidden Brain Podcast on your favorite podcast player so you never miss an episode. They're supposed to be painting something very personal. The phrase brings an entire world with it - its context, its flavor, its culture. 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. Why researchers should think real-world: A conceptual rationale, by Harry T. Reis, in Handbook of Research Methods for Studying Daily Life, 2012. In this favorite episode from 2021, Cornell University psychologist Anthony Burrow explains why purpose isnt something to be found its something we can develop from within. We talk with psychologist Iris Mauss, who explains why happiness can seem more elusive the harder we chase it, and what we can do instead to build a lasting sense of contentment. Of course, eventually, the Finnish kids also figured it out because language isn't the only source of that information, otherwise it would be quite surprising for the Finns to be able to continue to reproduce themselves. Each language comprises the ideas that have been worked out in a culture over thousands of generations, and that is an incredible amount of cultural heritage and complexity of thought that disappears whenever a language dies. It seems kind of elliptical, like, would it be possible that I obtained? If you're studying a new language, you might discover these phrases not in your textbooks but when you're hanging out with friends. The Effects of Conflict Types, Dimensions, and Emergent States on Group Outcomes, by Karen Jehn et. And to arrive in a new place where you can't tell a joke and can't express an idea - oh, it's just really painful because you feel like your whole self is hiding inside and no one can see it. But they can also steer us in directions that leave us deeply unsatisfied. This week on Hidden Brain, psychologist Adam Grant describes the magic th Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships. Special thanks to Adam Cole, who wrote and performed our rendition of "The Hokey Pokey." VEDANTAM: Jennifer moved to Japan for graduate school. Subscribe to the Hidden Brain Podcast on your favorite podcast player so you never miss an episode.
Duval County Quarantine Guidelines,
Who Makes Wasatch Gun Safes,
Reggie Miller Parents,
Articles H