Skip to main content
Back to Show
Amanpour & Co.

Hidden Brain Host Explains Why We Lie to Ourselves Every Day

Shankar Vedantam, host of the popular podcast “Hidden Brain,” has been reporting on human behavior for decades, and he says that buying into false beliefs can actually be a good thing – sometimes. He joins Hari Sreenivasan to explain why self-delusion can be a helpful tool to get us through the hard parts of life.

Support Provided By
Season
January 19, 2025
Unlock with PBS Passport
55:53
Nic Robertson; Heather Conley; Sir Peter Westmacott; Kimberlé Crenshaw; Mike Gordon
January 16, 2026
Unlock with PBS Passport
55:50
Shirin Ebadi; Theodor Meron; Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel
January 15, 2025
Unlock with PBS Passport
55:54
Mohammad Marandi; Nazenin Ansari; Phil Gunson; Andrew Ross Sorkin
January 14, 2026
Unlock with PBS Passport
55:50
Jomana Karadsheh; Elliott Abrams; Kaouther Ben Hania; Mike Fox
January 13, 2025
Unlock with PBS Passport
55:55
Nazanin Boniadi; Nina Khrushcheva; Jacob Soboroff; Kenneth Rosen
January 12, 2026
Unlock with PBS Passport
55:52
Abbas Milani; Douglas Holtz-Eakin; Ben Markovits; Shawn Hubler
January 9, 2026
Unlock with PBS Passport
55:42
Jared Genser; Ethan Hawke; Carol Leonnig; Aaron C. Davis
January 8, 2026
Unlock with PBS Passport
55:46
Sen. Bernie Sanders; Paula Newton; Christopher Lockyear; David Frum
January 7, 2026
Unlock with PBS Passport
55:54
Juan Manuel Santos; Karim Sadjadpour; Ian Bremmer
January 6, 2026
Unlock with PBS Passport
55:20
Sen. Angus King; Juan González; Oleksandr Merezhko; Jason Stanley
January 5, 2026
Unlock with PBS Passport
55:41
Leigh Waldman; Todd D. Robinson; David Smolansky; Jorge Castañeda
January 2, 2026
Unlock with PBS Passport
55:44
Lech Walesa; Elizabeth A. Hanks; Katherine Landers; Deanne Criswell; Dame Stephanie Shirley
Active loading indicator