Psychology podcasts

Psychologist Martin Seligman joins Hidden Brain to discuss learned helplessness and why some people act on opportunities while others believe their actions cannot change outcomes. The conversation examines how interpretations of setbacks influence later behaviour and how optimism can help people recover a sense of agency. Seligman is a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. Hosted by Shankar Vedantam and published by Hidden Brain Media on 21 September 2026, this is the first part of How to Make a Difference. The official episode page provides a public audio player.

Hosted by Shankar Vedantam

Linguist Deborah Tannen examines how differences in conversational style create unintended conflict in families, friendships and workplaces, and how greater awareness can improve communication. This release revisits an earlier interview with Tannen, a professor at Georgetown University, and adds a new Your Questions Answered segment in which Emma Levine addresses listener questions about the psychology of lying. Hosted by Shankar Vedantam and published by Hidden Brain Media on 14 September 2026. The official episode page offers public audio, research references and a transcript, with a warning that the transcript may reflect an earlier version.

Hosted by Shankar Vedantam

Cognitive scientist Nafees Hamid discusses research on the motivations of people approaching or already committed to violent extremism. The conversation examines sacred values, social relationships and how psychological research may help disengage people from extremist ideas. The supporting research includes behavioural and neuroimaging studies of willingness to fight and die for a cause. Hosted by Shankar Vedantam. Hidden Brain Media dates this public episode release to 10 September 2026 and provides audio, research references and a transcript. The publisher notes that transcripts can reflect an earlier episode version.

Hosted by Shankar Vedantam

Christine Rehn Jensen discusses the consequences for a family when a parent adopts conspiracy beliefs, drawing on her own experience. Conversation in Norwegian.

Psychobiologist Daisy Fancourt of University College London discusses research on how engagement with music, painting, storytelling and other arts relates to emotional regulation, resilience and longer-term wellbeing. The conversation follows her work from arts programmes in hospitals to systematic studies of their psychological effects, and considers practical ways to bring creativity into everyday life. Hosted by Shankar Vedantam and published by Hidden Brain Media on 24 August 2026. This public episode has its own audio player and transcript; the separate subscriber companion The Healing Arts is not part of this listing.

Hosted by Shankar Vedantam

Ralph Adolphs explains how the brain creates emotions including fear, joy, and awe, and discusses evidence-based approaches to emotion regulation. The episode connects neural mechanisms with attention, decision-making, and bodily state.

Chapter 2 follows Tempest McDonald's journey through higher education after earning a high-school equivalency degree and becoming a single mother.

James Harrison presents his proposed account of hypnosis as mental foraging, relating changes in attention and internal state to memory and prediction. The conversation explores interoception, engagement with the external world and memory reconsolidation as possible ways to explain hypnotic experience.

Hosted by Paul Middlebrooks

Dagfinn Nordbø discusses humour, satire and the craft of writing material that makes an audience laugh. Conversation in Norwegian.

Jo Røislien discusses research on communicating expert information and lessons from public communication during the pandemic. Conversation in Norwegian.

Ingebrigt Steen Jensen discusses his experience of dementia and the personal and social consequences of the diagnosis. Conversation in Norwegian.

Hilde Østby discusses loneliness, its effects on wellbeing and research into why persistent social isolation occurs. Conversation in Norwegian.

Jan-Ole Hesselberg discusses decision research and the factors that shape everyday choices and professional judgments. Conversation in Norwegian.

Ingebrigt Steen Jensen continues the discussion of teamwork through the successes and setbacks of Stabæk football. Second conversation in Norwegian.

Ingebrigt Steen Jensen discusses cooperation, communication and collective achievement, drawing on experiences in football and organizational life. First conversation in Norwegian.

Hilde Østby discusses creativity, how new ideas emerge and what brain research can tell us about imaginative thinking. Conversation in Norwegian.

Hilde Østby discusses how memories are formed, reconstructed and sometimes distorted. Conversation in Norwegian.