VEDANTAM: (Laughter) All right, I think it might be time for me to confess one of my pet peeves. Now I can stay oriented. And the answer should be, north, northeast in the far distance; how about you? Long before she began researching languages as a professor, foreign languages loomed large in her life. That's what it's all about. But we have plenty of words like that in English where it doesn't bother us at all. The phrase brings an entire world with it - its context, its flavor, its culture. MCWHORTER: Oh, yeah, I'm a human being. 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. Go behind the scenes, see what Shankar is reading and find more useful resources and links. What we think of today as a word undergoing some odd development or people using some new construction is exactly how Latin turned into French. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #10: (Speaking Russian). These relationships can help you feel cared for and connected. VEDANTAM: So I find that I'm often directionally and navigationally challenged when I'm driving around, and I often get my east-west mixed up with my left-right for reasons I have never been able to fathom. Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Dont Know, by Adam Grant, 2021. Let's start with the word literally. Writing has come along relatively recently. No matter how hard you try to feel happier, you end up back where you started. And there are consequences for how people think about events, what they notice when they see accidents. Imagine how we would sound to them if they could hear us. Learn more. Language was talk. ADAM COLE, BYLINE: (Singing) You put your southwest leg in, and you shake it all about. They know which way is which. 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. 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. So act like Monday. Copyright Hidden Brain Media | Privacy Policy, direct support to Hidden Brain by making a gift on our Patreon page, sponsorship opportunities on Hidden Brain. Stay with us. 00:55:27 Hidden Brain Happiness 2.0: The Reset Button 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. Because it was. VEDANTAM: If you have teenagers or work closely with young people, chances are you'll be mystified by their conversations or even annoyed. You may link to our content and copy and paste episode descriptions and Additional Resources into your invitations. Hidden Brain. If you prefer to listen through a podcast app, here are links to our podcast on Apple, Spotify, and Stitcher. When she was 12, her family came to the United States from the Soviet Union. 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. What do you do for christmas with your family? But I find that people now usually use the word to mean very soon, as in we're going to board the plane momentarily. 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. 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 Researcher Elizabeth Dunn helps us map out the unexpected ways w, Having a sense of purpose can be a buffer against the challenges we all face at various stages of life. If you're studying a new language, you might discover these phrases not in your textbooks but when you're hanging out with friends. He's also the author of the book, "Words On The Move: Why English Won't - And Can't - Sit Still (Like, Literally).". So the way you say hi in Kuuk Thaayorre is to say, which way are you heading? Our transcripts are provided by various partners and may contain errors or deviate slightly from the audio. It Takes Two: The Interpersonal Nature of Empathic Accuracy, What Do You Do When Things Go Right? UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: (Speaking foreign language). And I don't think any of us are thinking that it's a shame that we're not using the language of Beowulf. All rights reserved. But what happens when these feelings catch up with us? And I can't help surmising that part of it is that the educated American has been taught and often well that you're not supposed to look down on people because of gender, because of race, because of ability. And if you don't have a word for exactly seven, it actually becomes very, very hard to keep track of exactly seven. For example, when we started talking about navigation, that's an example where a 5-year-old in a culture that uses words like north, south, east and west can point southeast without hesitation. It is the very fabric, the very core of your experience. Our transcripts are provided by various partners and may contain errors or deviate slightly from the audio. 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. UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #3: (Speaking foreign language). And I would really guess that in a few decades men will be doing it, too. Because were a small team, we dont have a publicly-available list of every piece of music that we use. 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. Copyright 2023 Steno. It turns out, as you point out, that in common usage, literally literally means the opposite of literally. GEACONE-CRUZ: And you're at home in your pajamas, all nice and cuddly and maybe watching Netflix or something. And so for example, if the word chair is masculine in your language, why is that? And as you point out, it's not just that people feel that a word is being misused. Please do not republish our logo, name or content digitally or distribute to more than 10 people without written permission. People who breathe too much put their bodies in a hypoxic state, with not enough oxygen to the brain How breath moves in the body: air comes in through the nose and mouth; the larynx (rigid tube to avoid closing) brings air from the nose and mouth to the lungs Lungs can expand and contract to bring in or expel air JENNIFER GEACONE-CRUZ: My name is Jennifer Geacone-Cruz. So we did an analysis of images in Artstor. But time doesn't have to flow with respect to the body. And if you can enjoy it as a parade instead of wondering why people keep walking instead of just sitting on chairs and blowing on their tubas and not moving, then you have more fun. 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. MCWHORTER: Those are called contronyms, and literally has become a new contronym. Purpose can also boost our health and longevity. So you have speakers of two different languages look at the same event and come away with different memories of what happened because of the structure of their languages and the way they would normally describe them. 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. 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. Today, we explore the many facets of this idea. Yes! 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. 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. Whats going on here? Many of us rush through our lives, chasing goals and just trying to get everything done. 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. The only question was in which way. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #6: (Speaking foreign language). And I was telling this person about someone I knew back in America. This week, in the final installment of our Happiness 2.0 series, psychologist Dacher Keltner describes what happens when we stop to savor the beauty in nature, art, or simply the moral courage of those around us. BORODITSKY: Thank you so much for having me. VEDANTAM: There are phrases in every language that are deeply evocative and often untranslatable. When language was like that, of course it changed a lot - fast - because once you said it, it was gone. Mistakes and errors are what turned Latin into French. They're supposed to be painting something very personal. You can find the transcript for most episodes of Hidden Brain on our website. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #16: Not figuratively, it's literally MCWHORTER: Yeah. 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. Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams, by Amy Edmondson, Administrative Science Quarterly, 1999. I saw this bird's-eye view, and I was this little red dot. 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. And then if you are going to be that elliptical, why use the casual word get? MCWHORTER: You could have fun doing such a thing. VEDANTAM: I understand there's been some work looking at children and that children who speak certain languages are actually quicker to identify gender and their own gender than children who are learning other languages in other cultures. 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. Personal Strivings: An Approach to Personality and Subjective Well-being, by Robert A. Emmons, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1986. BORODITSKY: One thing that we've noticed is this idea of time, of course, is very highly constructed by our minds and our brains. BORODITSKY: My family is Jewish, and we left as refugees. For more of our Relationships 2.0 series, check out one of our most popular episodes ever about why marriages are so hard. Refusing to Apologize can have Psychological Benefits, by Tyler Okimoto, Michael Wenzel and Kyli Hedrick, European Journal of Social Psychology, 2013. If a transcript is available, you'll see a Transcript button which expands to reveal the full transcript. 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. Many of us believe that hard work and persistence are the key to achieving our goals. Shankar Vedantam: This is Hidden Brain. It's natural to want to run away from difficult emotions such as grief, anger and fear. Lera said there's still a lot of research to be done on this. I know-uh (ph) is there, or something along the lines of babe-uh (ph). John is a professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University. 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. Thank you! So for example, if Sam grabbed a hammer and struck the flute in anger, that would be one description, like, Sam broke the flute. This is NPR. podcast pages. You're also not going to do algebra. 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. No matter how hard you try to feel happier, you end up back where you started. Perceived Partner Responsiveness Minimizes Defensive Reactions to Failure, by Peter A. Caprariello and Harry T. Reis, Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2011. Purpose can also boost our health and longevity. BORODITSKY: And Russian is a language that has grammatical gender, and different days of the week have different genders for some reason. 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. But it's so hard to feel that partly because our brains are on writing, as I say in the book. But that can blind us to a very simple source of joy that's all around us. VEDANTAM: Well, that's kind of you, Lera. It's exactly how old English turned into modern English. This week on Hidden Brain, we revisit a favorite episode exploring what this culture means Jesse always wanted to fall in love. But the reason that it seems so elusive is because we don't really think about the, quote, unquote, "meaning" of things like our conversation-easing laughter. It is a great, free way to engage the podcast community and increase the visibility of your podcasts. * Data source: directly measured on Listen Notes. out. But she told me a story about a conversation she had with a native speaker of Indonesian. Why researchers should think real-world: A conceptual rationale, by Harry T. Reis, in Handbook of Research Methods for Studying Daily Life, 2012. The best Podcast API to search all podcasts and episodes. 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 days, weeks, and lives, chasing goals, and just trying to get everything done. UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character) I'm willing to get involved. We call this language Gumbuzi. Going the Distance on the Pacific Crest Trail: The Vital Role of Identified Motivation, by Kennon M. Sheldon, Motivation Science, 2020. But as Bob Cialdini set out to discover the keys to influence and persuasion, he decided to follow the instincts of his childhood. VEDANTAM: You make the case that concerns over the misuse of language might actually be one of the last places where people can publicly express prejudice and class differences. VEDANTAM: How the languages we speak shape the way we think and why the words we use are always in flux. al, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2004. Could this affect the way, you know, sexism, conscious or unconscious, operates in our world? 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. You know, we spend years teaching children about how to use language correctly. 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). We're speaking today with cognitive science professor Lera Boroditsky about language. Imagine this. : The Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Benefits of Sharing Positive Events, Shelly. How so? I just don't want to do it. Transcript Podcast: Subscribe to the Hidden Brain Podcast on your favorite podcast player so you never miss an episode. 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. 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. Our transcripts are provided by various partners and may contain errors or deviate slightly from the audio. And dead languages never change, and some of us might prefer those. How come you aren't exactly the way you were 10 years ago? But it is a completely crucial part of the human experience. All rights reserved. Subscribe to the Hidden Brain Podcast on your favorite podcast player so you never miss an episode. We'll be back momentarily. The fun example I give my students is imagine playing the hokey pokey in a language like this. But can you imagine someone without imagining their gender? And a girl goes in this pile. One study that I love is a study that asked monolingual speakers of Italian and German and also bilingual speakers of Italian and German to give reasons for why things are the grammatical genders that they are. - you would have to say something like, my arm got broken, or it so happened to me that my arm is broken. We all have to make certain choices in life, such as where to live and how to earn a living. Happiness 2.0: The Reset Button. This week, in the fourth and final installment of our Happiness 2.0 series, psychologist Dacher Keltner describes . We couldnt survive without the many public radio stations that support our show and they cant survive without you. Everyone wants to be loved and appreciated. But if I give that same story to a Hebrew or an Arabic speaker, they would organize it from right to left. Podcasters use the RadioPublic listener relationship platform to build lasting connections with fans. Listen on the Reuters app. Those sorts things tend to start with women. 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. 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? And very competent adults of our culture can't do that. We don't want to be like that. John, you've noted that humans have been using language for a very long time, but for most of that time language has been about talking. 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. BORODITSKY: Well, you would be at sea at first. Our transcripts are provided by various partners and may contain errors or deviate slightly from the audio. Our transcripts are provided by various partners and may contain errors or deviate slightly from the audio.
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