Hidden Brain

and former Harvard researcher with degrees from Middlebury and UC Berkeley.

His research on micro practice has been featured in over 100 outlets spanning 30 languages, including the New York Times, CNN, BBC, ABC News, CBS News, NPR's Hidden Brain, the Los Angeles Times, the Telegraph, New Scientist, Forbes, Inc., Psychology Today, 10% Happier, and the Science of Happiness podcast.

That is quite a mouthful.

You have been around the circuit, Eli, where it really...

A steady diet of these scenes has conditioned all of us to believe that if the sparks don't fly in the first five seconds, we're in the wrong movie.

But in the messy, unscripted reality of our own lives, is this cinematic thunderbolt a reliable guide to the human heart? This week on Hidden Brain and in a companion story on Hidden Brain Plus, we explore the counterintuitive science of attraction and why the qualities we think we want in a partner have surprisingly little to do with whom we actually fall in love.

Support for Hidden Brain comes from Luva.

Luva's AI-powered insurance guide, Lu, can help make finding car insurance easier.

But thus far, we have been completely unable to explain ahead of time why two people end up being compatible.

If compatibility is hard to predict in advance, how do we know when we have found the one? When we come back, what science can teach you about finding your soulmate.

You may also want to check out our companion story about online dating on Hidden Brain Plus.

We examine how dating apps mislead us about what we want in our romantic partners.

So I think he'll find a rhythm and find more confidence, rather, and just get to his spots that he knows he can score.

But the NBA is a much different speed, and I think he's learning that.

Yeah.

It's a good thing to be on a team with this many – I mean, the vet in LeBron James and then as many really, really good, talented players as the Sixers because I'm sure he's learning even though he's not playing.

And he's doing the good rookie stuff.

He's the first off the bench to kind of hype guys up after timeouts, after and ones and everything.

Naming a game is surviving in advance sometimes, and here they are, 4-1 on the season, one of the top five, six best teams in basketball right now, maybe top four.

Which is good for October.

And you are on Alan Alda's podcast.

You are on Hidden Brain.

I mean, these are huge platforms.

Where do you hope the book takes you next? To Hollywood and beyond.

Yeah.

I will also add on to that is I think with the social media, and I think this is a whole, I mean, Hidden Brain, NPR, you know, some other podcast thing I've listened to was the science behind human connection and that really human beings are only wired to have a small group of people that they are deeply connected to.

And so with social media, like, you know, if you went on my Facebook, which is locked down, so don't go looking for me.

But if you were if you went on to my my Facebook, I have like over a thousand, quote unquote, friends.

This is Hidden Brain.

I'm Shankar Vedantam.

Two thousand years ago, in ancient Greece, a local ruler had a problem.

Something in the human mind yearns to make sense of the world.

Some researchers think this sense-making drive is a basic human impulse, no different than thirst or hunger.

This week on Hidden Brain, why our minds seek to explain the world, and how the stories we tell ourselves can lead to discovery, delight, and disaster.

Support for Hidden Brain comes from Mazda.

Being safer on the road starts with the person behind the wheel.

One of the podcasts I listen to is not really related to climate, but it is about human psychology that I thought was really helpful for communication because it touches on how to actually communicate and understand how to relate with humans.

It's called Hidden Brain by NPR.

I really enjoy a lot of their podcast episodes, really, because it really talks about very diverse psychology and human relations.

Adriana?

Like I'm listening to podcasts week over week.

Or I was just talking to my girlfriend about the Hidden Brain podcast.

If y'all haven't listened to it, Sean Carvey, I love that man.

I love saying his name.

Shankar, I love you.

His podcast is just incredible.

Hidden Brain is a beautifully produced podcast, extremely thoughtful.

I mean, I'll pop in some Trevor Noah.