It's as if you saw a person - I'm not going to say at 4 because then the person is growing up, and if I use that analogy then it seems like I'm saying that language grows up or it moves toward something or it develops. Sometimes you just have to suck it up. Those are quirks of grammar literally in stone. "Most of the laughter we produce is purely . Subscribe to the Hidden Brain Podcast on your favorite podcast player so you never miss an episode. MCWHORTER: No, because LOL was an expression; it was a piece of language, and so you knew that its meaning was going to change. In the second episode of our "Relationships 2.0" series, psychologist Do you ever struggle to communicate with your mom? Subscribe to the Hidden Brain Podcast on your favorite podcast player so you never miss an episode. VEDANTAM: Well, that's kind of you, Lera. This week, we kick off a month-long series we're calling Happiness 2.0. It should just be, here is the natural way, then there's some things that you're supposed to do in public because that's the way it is, whether it's fair or not. And so for me, that question was born in that conversation of are there some languages where it's easier to imagine a person without their characteristics of gender filled in? UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: (Speaking foreign language). But what happens when these feelings catch up with us? 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. Learn more. And so, for example, can I get a hamburger? So to give you a very quick wrap-up is that some effects are big, but even when effects aren't big, they can be interesting or important for other reasons - either because they are very broad or because they apply to things that we think are really important in our culture. How do certain memes go viral? VEDANTAM: If you're bilingual or you're learning a new language, you get what Jennifer, experienced - the joy of discovering a phrase that helps you perfectly encapsulate a. feeling or an experience. You-uh (ph). 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. Those sorts things tend to start with women. 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. 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? VEDANTAM: One of the things I found really interesting is that the evolution of words and language is constant. UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #3: (Speaking foreign language). Go behind the scenes, see what Shankar is reading and find more useful resources and links. Of course, you also can't experience anything outside of time. Just saying hello was difficult. This week on Hidden Brain, we revisit a favorite episode exploring what this culture means Jesse always wanted to fall in love. 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. UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) Right. Languages are not just tools. And then question 21 was, is this person a man or a woman? You can search for the episode or browse all episodes on our Archive Page. : A Data-Driven Prescription to Redefine Professional Success, by Lawrence S. Krieger and Kennon M. Sheldon, George Washington Law Review, 2015. Bu 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. And so for example, if the word chair is masculine in your language, why is that? No matter how hard you try to feel happier, you end up back where you started. BORODITSKY: Yeah, that's true. VEDANTAM: Around the world, we often hear that many languages are dying, and there are a few megalanguages that are growing and expanding in all kinds of ways. 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. MCWHORTER: Thank you for having me, Shankar. So the way you say hi in Kuuk Thaayorre is to say, which way are you heading? BORODITSKY: One thing that we've noticed is this idea of time, of course, is very highly constructed by our minds and our brains. And it irritates people, but there's a different way of seeing literally. That is exactly why you should say fewer books instead of less books in some situations and, yes, Billy and I went to the store rather than the perfectly natural Billy and me went to the store. And one thing that we've noticed is that around the world, people rely on space to organize time. But that can blind us to a very simple source of joy thats all around us. All episodes of Hidden Brain - Chartable Hidden Brain Episodes Happiness 2.0: The Reset Button Many of us rush through our lives, chasing goals and just trying to get everything done. It Takes Two: The Interpersonal Nature of Empathic Accuracy, by Jamil Zaki, Niall Bolger, Kevin Ochsner, Psychological Science, 2008. So for example, for English speakers - people who read from left to right - time tends to flow from left to right. GEACONE-CRUZ: It's a Sunday afternoon, and it's raining outside. Many of us rush through our days, weeks, and lives, chasing goals, and just trying to get everything done. BORODITSKY: My family is Jewish, and we left as refugees. Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Dont Know, by Adam Grant, 2021. He didn't like that people were shortening the words. MCWHORTER: Yeah, I really do. Perceived Partner Responsiveness as an Organizing Construct in the Study of Intimacy and Closeness, by Harry T. Reis, et. I'm Shankar Vedantam. Parents and peers influence our major life choices. So in English, I might say that Sam (ph) broke the flute. VEDANTAM: My guest today is - well, why don't I let her introduce herself? and pick the featured episodes for your show. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: (Speaking foreign language). What techniques did that person use to persuade you? 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. Does Legal Education Have Undermining Effects on Law Students? Could this affect the way, you know, sexism, conscious or unconscious, operates in our world? But they can also steer us in directions that leave us deeply unsatisfied. If you take literally in what we can think of as its earliest meaning, the earliest meaning known to us is by the letter. What a cynical thing to say, but that doesn't mean that it might not be true. But if you ask bilinguals, who have learned two languages and now they know that some genders disagree across the two languages, they're much less likely to say that it's because chairs are intrinsically masculine. I'm Shankar Vedantam. Just go to the magnifying glass in the top right corner, click on it, and use the search function at the top of the page. ), The Sourcebook of Listening Research: Methodology and Measures, 2018. 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. It's not something that you typically go out trying to do intentionally. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking foreign language). VEDANTAM: Still don't have a clear picture? Go behind the scenes, see what Shankar is reading and find more useful resources and links. I'm Shankar Vedantam, and you're listening to HIDDEN BRAIN. In English, actually, quite weirdly, we can even say things like, I broke my arm. Copyright Hidden Brain Media | Privacy Policy, direct support to Hidden Brain by making a gift on our Patreon page, sponsorship opportunities on Hidden Brain. In this favorite 2021 episode, psychologistAdam Grantpushes back against the benefits of certainty, and describes the magic that unfolds when we challenge our own deeply-held beliefs. MCWHORTER: You could have fun doing such a thing. And nobody wishes that we hadn't developed our modern languages today from the ancient versions. And I thought, wow, first of all, it would be almost impossible to have a conversation like that in English where you hadn't already revealed the gender of the person because you have to use he or she. No matter how hard you try to feel happier, you end up back where you started. If you're bilingual or multilingual, you may have noticed that different languages make you stretch in different ways. GEACONE-CRUZ: It's this phrase that describes something between I can't be bothered or I don't want to do it or I recognize the incredible effort that goes into something, even though it shouldn't be so much of an effort. So earlier things are on the left. Interpersonal Chemistry: What Is It, How Does It Emerge, and How Does it Operate? VEDANTAM: Still don't have a clear picture? We call this language Gumbuzi. Goal Striving, Need Satisfaction, and Longitudinal Well-being: The Self-Concordance Model, by Kennon M. Sheldon and Andrew J. Elliot, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1999. You can't touch time. And if you don't have a word for exactly seven, it actually becomes very, very hard to keep track of exactly seven. 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. I'm Shankar Vedantam. But she told me a story about a conversation she had with a native speaker of Indonesian. But time doesn't have to flow with respect to the body. Newsletter: They know which way is which. How big are the differences that we're talking about, and how big do you think the implications are for the way we see the world? Hidden Brain Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam Subscribe Visit website Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our. But, you know, John, something gnaws at me every time I hear the word used wrong. VEDANTAM: So this begs the question, if you were to put languages on something of a spectrum, where you have, you know, languages like Spanish or Hindi where nouns are gendered and languages like English where many nouns are not gendered but pronouns are gendered, and on the other end of the spectrum, you have languages like Finnish or Persian where you can have a conversation about someone without actually mentioning their gender, it would seem surprising if this did not translate, at some level, into the way people thought about gender in their daily activities, in terms of thinking about maybe even who can do what in the workplace. If you're just joining us, I'm talking to John McWhorter. GEACONE-CRUZ: It's a Sunday afternoon, and it's raining outside. And I was telling this person about someone I knew back in America. If you dont see any jobs posted there, feel free to send your resume and cover letter to [emailprotected] and well keep your materials on hand for future openings on the show. You also see huge differences in other domains like number. BORODITSKY: So quite literally, to get past hello, you have to know which way you're heading. So the word for the is different for women than for men, and it's also different for forks versus spoons and things like that. Long before she began researching languages as a professor, foreign languages loomed large in her life. Sometimes, life can feel like being stuck on a treadmill. Many of us believe that hard work and persistence are the key to achieving our goals. Language is something that's spoken, and spoken language especially always keeps changing. 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. Whats going on here? (SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "PARKS AND RECREATION"). So some languages don't have number words. Social Functionalist Frameworks for Judgment and Choice: Intuitive Politicians, Theologians, and Prosecutors, by Philip Tetlock, Psychology Review, 2002. GEACONE-CRUZ: And I ended up living there for 10 years. HIDDEN BRAIN < Lost in Translation: January 29, 20189:00 PM ET VEDANTAM: Well, that's kind of you, Lera. VEDANTAM: If you're bilingual or you're learning a new language, you get what Jennifer experienced - the joy of discovering a phrase that helps you perfectly encapsulate a feeling or an experience. How do you balance the imperative of teaching correct usage? For more of our Relationships 2.0 series, check out one of our most popular episodes ever about why marriages are so hard. Mistakes and errors are what turned Latin into French. BORODITSKY: Well, there may not be a word for left to refer to a left leg. But, if you dig a little deeper, you may find that they share much more: they might make the same amount of money as you, or share the, We all have to make certain choices in life, such as where to live and how to earn a living. 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. (LAUGHTER) VEDANTAM: In the English-speaking world, she goes by Lera Boroditsky. 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. And they suggest that differences across languages do, in fact, predict some of these measures of gender equality across countries. VEDANTAM: One of the points you make in the book of course is that the evolution of words and their meanings is what gives us this flowering of hundreds or thousands of languages. Many of us rush through our lives, chasing goals and just trying to get everything done. (Speaking Japanese). something, even though it shouldn't be so much of an effort. So that's a measurement difference of 100 percent of performance. That is the direction of writing in Hebrew and Arabic, going from right to left. If you liked . 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. There's a lowlier part of our nature that grammar allows us to vent in the absence of other ways to do it that have not been available for some decades for a lot of us. Hidden Brain explores the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior and questions that lie at the heart of our complex and changing world. And I did that. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: (Speaking foreign language). Welcome to HIDDEN BRAIN. 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. Go behind the scenes, see what Shankar is reading and find more useful resources and links. BORODITSKY: It's certainly possible. So when I ask you to, say, imagine a man walking down the street, well, in your imagery, you're going to have some details completed and some will be left out. 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? The only question was in which way. ADAM COLE, BYLINE: (Singing) You put your southwest leg in, and you shake it all about. So - but if I understand correctly, I would be completely at sea if I visited this aboriginal community in Australia because I have often absolutely no idea where I am or where I'm going. But what happens when these feelings catch up with us? Why researchers should think real-world: A conceptual rationale, by Harry T. Reis, in Handbook of Research Methods for Studying Daily Life, 2012. 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, 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. You know, I was trying to stay oriented because people were treating me like I was pretty stupid for not being oriented, and that hurt. Perspectives on the Situation by Harry T. Reis, and John G. Holmes, in The Oxford Handbook of Personality and Social Psychology, 2012. All of the likes and, like, literallies (ph) might sometimes grate on your nerves, but John McWhorter says the problem might be with you, not with the way other people speak. Which pile do you go in, right? Let's start with the word literally. 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. Course Hero is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university. BORODITSKY: I spoke really terrible Indonesian at the time, so I was trying to practice. That is utterly arbitrary that those little slits in American society look elderly, but for various chance reasons, that's what those slits came to mean, so I started wearing flat-fronted pants. Young people have always used language in new and different ways, and it's pretty much always driven older people crazy. And, of course, you always have to wonder, well, could it be that speakers of these different languages are actually seeing different kinds of bridges? JENNIFER GEACONE-CRUZ: My name is Jennifer Geacone-Cruz. No matter how hard you try to feel happier, you end up back where. And they said, well, of course. 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. out. Hidden Brain: You, But Better on Apple Podcasts 50 min You, But Better Hidden Brain Social Sciences Think about the resolutions you made this year: to quit smoking, eat better, or get more exercise. Today, we explore the many facets of this idea. If you prefer to listen through a podcast app, here are links to our podcast on Apple, Spotify, and Stitcher. And in fact, speakers of languages like this have been shown to orient extremely well - much better than we used to think humans could. Writing has come along relatively recently. Evaluating Changes in Motivation, Values, and Well-being, Goal Striving, Need Satisfaction, and Longitudinal Well-being: The Self-Concordance Model, Personal Strivings: An Approach to Personality and Subjective Well-being, Read the latest from the Hidden Brain Newsletter. Imagine how we would sound to them if they could hear us. 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. We're speaking today with cognitive science professor Lera Boroditsky about language. BORODITSKY: The way to say my name properly in Russian is (speaking foreign language), so I don't make people say that. Our transcripts are provided by various partners and may contain errors or deviate slightly from the audio. And if you teach them that forks go with women, they start to think that forks are more feminine. No matter how hard you try to feel happier, you end up back where you started. In many languages, nouns are gendered. Which I think is probably important with the reality that this edifice that you're teaching is constantly crumbling. UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: (Speaking foreign language). Hidden Brain. And it's sad that we're not going to be able to make use of them and learn them and celebrate them. She once visited an aboriginal community in northern Australia and found the language they spoke forced her mind to work in new ways. It's inherent. Only a couple hundred languages - or if you want to be conservative about it, a hundred languages - are written in any real way and then there are 6,800 others. We convince a colleague to take a different tactic at work. But might we allow that there's probably a part of all human beings that wants to look down on somebody else. Flight attendant Steven Slater slides from a plane after quitting. 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. Today in our Happiness 2.0 series, we revisit a favorite episode from 2020. Hidden Brain Claim By Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam Podcasts RSS Web PODCAST SEARCH EPISODES COMMUNITY PODCASTER EDIT SHARE Listen Score LS 84 Global Rank TOP 0.01% ABOUT THIS PODCAST Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships. You know, lots of people blow off steam about something they think is wrong, but very few people are willing to get involved and do something about it. If you still cant find the episode, try looking through our most recent shows on our homepage. If I give you a bunch of pictures to lay out and say this is telling you some kind of story and you - and they're disorganized, when an English speaker organizes those pictures, they'll organize them from left to right. UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: (Speaking foreign language). So for example, you might not imagine the color shirt that he's wearing or the kinds of shoes that he's wearing. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. GEACONE-CRUZ: And you're at home in your pajamas, all nice and cuddly and maybe, watching Netflix or something. This takes kids a little while to figure out, and he had all kinds of clever ways to ask these questions. Of course, if you can't keep track of exactly seven, you can't count. He says there are things we can do to make sure our choices align with our deepest values. VEDANTAM: So all this raises a really interesting question. That is the most random thing. Perceived Responses to Capitalization Attempts are Influenced by Self-Esteem and Relationship Threat, by Shannon M. Smith & Harry Reis, Personal Relationships, 2012. We lobby a neighbor to vote for our favored political candidate. The transcript below may be for an earlier version of this episode. And he started by asking Russian-speaking students to personify days of the week. And they have correlated this with gender features in the language, just like the ones you were talking about. And as soon as I saw that happen, I thought, oh, this makes it so much easier. 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. If it is the first time you login, a new account will be created automatically. The transcript below may be for an earlier version of this episode. When language was like that, of course it changed a lot - fast - because once you said it, it was gone. That's what it's all about. to describe the world. Purpose can also boost our health and longevity. And maybe the convenience store or the shop is really not that far away. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Speaking foreign language). You know, there's no left leg or right leg. Today in our Happiness 2.0 series, we revisit a favorite episode from 2020. And the answer should be, north, northeast in the far distance; how about you? 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. That's because change is hard. Or feel like you and your spouse sometimes speak different languages? * Data source: directly measured on Listen Notes. 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. There's not a bigger difference you could find than 100 percent of the measurement space. They shape our place in it. 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. 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. So I just think that it's something we need to check ourselves for. Today in our Happiness 2.0 series, we revisit a favorite episode from 2020. So there are some differences that are as big as you can possibly measure. This is Hidden Brain. MCWHORTER: Language is a parade, and nobody sits at a parade wishing that everybody would stand still. So LOL starts out as meaning hardy-har-har (ph), but then it becomes something more abstract. 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