This week, we kick off a month-long series we're calling Happiness 2.0. How do you balance the imperative of teaching correct usage? Today in our Happiness 2.0 series, we revisit a favorite episode from 2020. 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. GEACONE-CRUZ: And you're at home in your pajamas, all nice and cuddly and maybe watching Netflix or something. The fun example I give my students is imagine playing the hokey pokey in a language like this. Subscribe to the Hidden Brain Podcast on your favorite podcast player so you never miss an episode. He's a professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University and the author of the book "Words On The Move: Why English Won't - And Can't - Sit Still (Like, Literally).". Psychologist Ken Sheldon studies the science of figuring out what you want. 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. Our team includes Laura Kwerel, Adhiti Bandlamudi and our supervising producer Tara Boyle. So that's an example of how languages and cultures construct how we use space to organize time, to organize this very abstract thing that's otherwise kind of hard to get our hands on and think about. The categorization that language provides to you becomes real, becomes psychologically real. 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. It has to do with the word momentarily. If it is the first time you login, a new account will be created automatically. Are the spoken origins of language one reason that words so often seem to be on the move? You couldn't have predicted this I know-uh move-uh (ph). And it irritates people, but there's a different way of seeing literally. Interpersonal Chemistry: What Is It, How Does It Emerge, and How Does it Operate? And a girl goes in this pile. GEACONE-CRUZ: And you're at home in your pajamas, all nice and cuddly and maybe, watching Netflix or something. You have to do it in order to fit into the culture and to speak the language. Now I can stay oriented. As you're going about your day, you likely interact with family, friends and coworkers. Parents and peers influence our major life choices. So new words are as likely to evolve as old ones. Well, that's an incredibly large set of things, so that's a very broad effect of language. Of course, eventually, the Finnish kids also figured it out because language isn't the only source of that information, otherwise it would be quite surprising for the Finns to be able to continue to reproduce themselves. So you can think about an un-gendered person in the same way that I might think about a person without a specific age or specific height or specific color shirt. 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. BORODITSKY: Well, there may not be a word for left to refer to a left leg. And if you don't have a word for exactly seven, it actually becomes very, very hard to keep track of exactly seven. Now, many people hear that and they think, well, that's no good because now literally can mean its opposite. BORODITSKY: Yeah. I'm shankar Vedantam in the 2002 rom com. MCWHORTER: Yes, Shankar, that's exactly it. What techniques did that person use to persuade you? But she told me a story about a conversation she had with a native speaker of Indonesian. Look at it. : The Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Benefits of Sharing Positive Events, Perceived Partner Responsiveness as an Organizing Construct in the Study of Intimacy and Closeness, Read the latest from the Hidden Brain Newsletter. Of course, you also can't experience anything outside of time. And one day, I was walking along, and I was just staring at the ground. I'm . But is that true when it comes to the pursuit of happiness? Our transcripts are provided by various partners and may contain errors or deviate slightly from the audio. 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? When we come back, we dig further into the way that gender works in different languages and the pervasive effects that words can play in our lives. Hidden Brain on Apple Podcasts Hidden Brain Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships. Long before she began researching languages as a professor, foreign languages loomed large in her life. Hidden Brain - Google Podcasts I'm Shankar Vedantam. And so somebody will say, well, who was it who you thought was going to give you this present? But is that true when it comes to the pursuit of happiness? This is HIDDEN BRAIN. We'll also look at how languages evolve, and why we're sometimes resistant to those changes. Perceived Partner Responsiveness Minimizes Defensive Reactions to Failure, by Peter A. Caprariello and Harry T. Reis, Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2011. Maybe it's, even less than 100 meters away, but you just can't bring yourself to even throw your, coat on over your pajamas, and put your boots on, and go outside and walk those, hundred meters because somehow it would break the coziness, 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. Newsletter: You would give a different description to mark that it was not intentional. We use a lot of music on the show! For example, if you take seeds and put them in the ground, that's one thing. And, I mean, really, it sounds exactly like that. No matter how hard you try to feel happier, you end up back where you started. So we did an analysis of images in Artstor. BORODITSKY: Yeah. But we have plenty of words like that in English where it doesn't bother us at all. So when the perfect woman started writing him letters, it seemed too good to be true. My Unsung Hero: A belated thank you : NPR Long before she began researching languages as a professor, foreign languages loomed large in her life. Hidden Brain: You 2.0: Cultivating Your Purpose on Apple Podcasts The only question was in which way. So it's, VEDANTAM: The moment she heard it, Jennifer realized mendokusai was incredibly. What do you think the implications are - if you buy the idea that languages are a very specific and unique way of seeing the world, of perceiving reality, what are the implications of so many languages disappearing during our time? VEDANTAM: If you have teenagers or work closely with young people, chances are you'll be mystified by their conversations or even annoyed. VEDANTAM: Lera now tries to understand languages spoken all over the world. Our transcripts are provided by various partners and may contain errors or deviate slightly from the audio. There was no way of transcribing an approximation of what people said and nobody would have thought of doing it. Whats going on here? You may also use the Hidden Brain name in invitations sent to a small group of personal contacts for such purposes as a listening club or discussion forum. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #6: (Speaking foreign language). In this favorite 2021 episode, psychologist Adam Grant pushes back against the benefits of certainty, and describes the magic that unfolds when we challenge our own deeply-held beliefs. Welcome to HIDDEN BRAIN. And what we find is that if you teach people that forks go with men grammatically in a language, they start to think of forks as being more masculine. It's too high. VEDANTAM: The word chair is feminine in Italian. Hidden Brain - You 2.0: Cultivating Your Purpose Hidden Brain Aug 2, 2021 You 2.0: Cultivating Your Purpose Play 51 min playlist_add Having a sense of purpose can be a buffer against the. Today, we explore the many facets of this idea. Imagine this. There are signs it's getting even harder. 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. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. How to Really Know Another Person - Transcripts Additional Resources Book: GEACONE-CRUZ: It's a Sunday afternoon, and it's raining outside. As soon as you move the leg, it becomes a different leg. 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. You do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around. GEACONE-CRUZ: It's a Sunday afternoon, and it's raining outside. And I don't think any of us are thinking that it's a shame that we're not using the language of Beowulf. Sometimes, life can feel like being stuck on a treadmill. It's testament to the incredible ingenuity and complexity of the human mind that all of these different perspectives on the world have been invented. You can search for the episode or browse all episodes on our Archive Page. BORODITSKY: One thing that we've noticed is this idea of time, of course, is very highly constructed by our minds and our brains. 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. I'm Shankar Vedantam, and you're listening to HIDDEN BRAIN. Purpose can also boost our health and longevity. 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. Transcript Speaker 1 00:00:00 this is hidden brain. MCWHORTER: Yeah. So there are these wonderful studies by Alexander Giora where he asked kids learning Finnish, English and Hebrew as their first languages basically, are you a boy or a girl? So earlier things are on the left. And so language changed just like the clouds in the sky. 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. No matter how hard you try to feel happier, you end up back where you started. Young people have always used language in new and different ways, and it's pretty much always driven older people crazy. It's not necessarily may I please have, but may I have, I'll have, but not can I get a. I find it just vulgar for reasons that as you can see I can't even do what I would call defending. UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: (Speaking foreign language). 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. Interpersonal Chemistry: What Is It, How Does It Emerge, and How Does it Operate? (SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "PARKS AND RECREATION"). So I just think that it's something we need to check ourselves for. 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? You would never know, for example, that - give you an example I've actually been thinking about. LERA BORODITSKY: The categorization that language provides to you becomes real - becomes psychologically real. 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. The Effects of Conflict Types, Dimensions, and Emergent States on Group Outcomes, by Karen Jehn et. It is a great, free way to engage the podcast community and increase the visibility of your podcasts. 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. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #11: (Speaking Russian). This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. 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. It's exactly how old English turned into modern English. Lera is a cognitive science professor at the University of California, San Diego. But what happens when these feelings catch up with us? If you're studying a new language, you might discover these phrases not. You know, there's no left leg or right leg. They give us a sense that the meanings of words are fixed, when in fact they're not. And I was telling this person about someone I knew back in America. If you prefer to listen through a podcast app, here are links to our podcast on Apple, Spotify, and Stitcher. Sociologist Lisa Wade believes the pervasive hookup culture on campuses today is different from that faced by previous generations. You may link to our content and copy and paste episode descriptions and Additional Resources into your invitations. native tongue without even thinking about it. Sometimes, life can feel like being stuck on a treadmill. And dead languages never change, and some of us might prefer those. Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Dont Know, by Adam Grant, 2021. Lots of languages make a distinction between things that are accidents and things that are intentional actions. You can find all Hidden Brain episodes on our website. We love the idea of Hidden Brain helping to spark discussions in your community. And if it was feminine, then you're likely to paint death as a woman. (Speaking Japanese). So I think that nobody would say that they don't think language should change. It Takes Two: The Interpersonal Nature of Empathic Accuracy, by Jamil Zaki, Niall Bolger, Kevin Ochsner, Psychological Science, 2008. That was somehow a dad's fashion, and that I should start wearing flat-fronted pants. 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 you suddenly get a craving for potato chips, and you, realize that you have none in the kitchen, and there's nothing else you really want to, eat. In many languages, nouns are gendered. This week, in the final . And he started by asking Russian-speaking students to personify days of the week. But is that true when it comes to the pursuit of happiness? VEDANTAM: Languages orient us to the world. There was no such thing as looking up what it originally meant. VEDANTAM: Jennifer moved to Japan for graduate school. Language as it evolved was just talking to an extent that can be very hard for we literate people to imagine. All rights reserved. But is that true when it comes to the pursuit of happiness? And you can just - it rolls off the tongue, and you can just throw it out. It Takes Two: The Interpersonal Nature of Empathic Accuracy, What Do You Do When Things Go Right? And if the word bridge is masculine in your language, you're more likely to say that bridges are strong and long and towering - these kind of more stereotypically masculine words. That's how much cultural heritage is lost. UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) If you're so upset about it, maybe you can think of a way to help her. And then when I turned, this little window stayed locked on the landscape, but it turned in my mind's eye. Laughter: The Best Medicine | Hidden Brain : NPR Our transcripts are provided by various partners and may contain errors or deviate slightly from the audio. But it is a completely crucial part of the human experience. VEDANTAM: Lera Boroditsky is a cognitive science professor at the University of California, San Diego. Subscribe to the Hidden Brain Podcast on your favorite podcast player so you never miss an episode. Perceived Partner Responsiveness as an Organizing Construct in the Study of Intimacy and Closeness, by Harry T. Reis, et. It can be almost counterintuitive to listen to how much giggling and laughing you do in ordinary - actually rather plain exchanges with people. She once visited an aboriginal community in northern Australia and found the language they spoke forced her mind to work in new ways. But actually, it's something that's not so hard to learn. edit transcripts, Improve the presence of your podcasts, e.g., self-service, If you share your Listen Notes page and at-mention. Many of us believe that hard work and persistence are the key to achieving our goals. Because were a small team, we dont have a publicly-available list of every piece of music that we use. Copyright 2018 NPR. So LOL was an internet abbreviation meaning laugh out loud or laughing out loud, but LOL in common usage today doesn't necessarily mean hysterical laughter. But that can blind us to a very simple source of joy thats all around us. And if they were facing east, they would make the cards come toward them, toward the body. Why researchers should think real-world: A conceptual rationale, by Harry T. Reis, in Handbook of Research Methods for Studying Daily Life, 2012. But, you know, John, something gnaws at me every time I hear the word used wrong. 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. BORODITSKY: And Russian is a language that has grammatical gender, and different days of the week have different genders for some reason. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Speaking foreign language). Happiness 2.0: Surprising Sources of Joy | Hidden Brain Media The transcript below may be for an earlier version of this episode. 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. VEDANTAM: Well, that's kind of you, Lera. This week, we kick off a month-long series we're calling Happiness 2.0. And some people would say it's a lot more because it's, you know, irrecoverable and not reduplicated elsewhere. 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. HIDDEN BRAIN < Lost in Translation: January 29, 20189:00 PM ET VEDANTAM: Well, that's kind of you, Lera. And I would really guess that in a few decades men will be doing it, too. We'd say, oh, well, we don't have magnets in our beaks or in our scales or whatever. This week, we launch the first of a two-part mini-series on the scie, If you think about the people in your life, it's likely that they share a lot in common with you. A brief history of relationship research in social psychology, by Harry T. Reis, in Handbook of the History of Social Psychology, 2011. 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. No matter how hard you try to feel happier, you end up back where you started. He says there are things we can do to make sure our choices align with our deepest values. We recommend movies or books to a friend. 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. And so even though I insist that there is no scientific basis for rejecting some new word or some new meaning or some new construction, I certainly have my visceral biases. To request permission, please send an email to [emailprotected]. In the United States, we often praise people with strong convictions, and look down on those who express doubt or hesitation. But if he just bumped into the table, and it happened to fall off the table and break, and it was an accident, then you might be more likely to say, the flute broke, or the flute broke itself, or it so happened to Sam that the flute broke. 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. If the language stayed the way it was, it would be like a pressed flower in a book or, as I say, I think it would be like some inflatable doll rather than a person. So one possibility for bilinguals would be that they just have two different minds inside - right? They often feel angry about it, and you think this anger is actually telling. And what's cool about languages, like the languages spoken in Pormpuraaw, is that they don't use words like left and right, and instead, everything is placed in cardinal directions like north, south, east and west. And why do some social movements take off and spread, while others fizzle? You know, it's Lady Liberty and Lady Justice. VEDANTAM: Our conversation made me wonder about what this means on a larger scale. In the United States, we often praise people with strong convictions, and look down on those who express doubt or hesitation. But that can blind us to a very simple source of joy that's all around us. I want everybody to have the fun I'm having. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #10: (Speaking Russian). I had this cool experience when I was there. GEACONE-CRUZ: And I ended up living there for 10 years. MCWHORTER: Yeah, I really do. So the way you say hi in Kuuk Thaayorre is to say, which way are you heading? But what most people mean is that there'll be slang, that there'll be new words for new things and that some of those words will probably come from other languages. . Hidden Brain - Transcripts Hidden Brain - Transcripts Subscribe 435 episodes Share Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships. So for example, you might not imagine the color shirt that he's wearing or the kinds of shoes that he's wearing. 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. Evaluating Changes in Motivation, Values, and Well-being, by Kennon M. Sheldon and Lawrence S. Krieger, Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 2004. That kind of detail may not appear. Let's start with the word literally. If you take literally in what we can think of as its earliest meaning, the earliest meaning known to us is by the letter. So in terms of the size of differences, there are certainly effects that are really, really big. So it's easy to think, oh, I could imagine someone without thinking explicitly about what they're wearing. Many of us rush through our days, weeks, and lives, chasing goals, and just trying to get everything done. 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 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. Our transcripts are provided by various partners and may contain errors or deviate slightly from the audio. Whats going on here? The Effective Negotiator Part 1: The Behavior of Successful Negotiators and The Effective Negotiator Part 2: Planning for Negotiations, by Neil Rackham and John Carlisle, Journal of European Industrial Training, 1978. Later things are on the right. Today's episode was the first in our You 2.0 series, which runs all this month. But it's a lovely example of how language can guide you to discover something about the world that might take you longer to discover if you didn't have that information in language. You know, we spend years teaching children about how to use language correctly. That's the way words are, too. Could this affect the way, you know, sexism, conscious or unconscious, operates in our world? Special thanks to Adam Cole, who wrote and performed our rendition of "The Hokey Pokey." Thank you for helping to keep the podcast database up to date. I think it's a really fascinating question for future research. But what happens when these feelings catch up with us? VEDANTAM: The moment she heard it, Jennifer realized mendokusai was incredibly useful. If you still cant find the episode, try looking through our most recent shows on our homepage. Can I get some chicken? I know-uh (ph) is there, or something along the lines of babe-uh (ph). VEDANTAM: I understand that there's also been studies looking at how artists who speak different languages might paint differently depending on how their languages categorize, you know, concepts like a mountain or death. Transcript - How language shapes the way we think by Lera Boroditsky.docx, The Singapore Quality Award requires organisations to show outstanding results, The following lots of Commodity Z were available for sale during the year, b The authors identify 5 types of misinformation in the abstract but discuss 7, 17 Chow N Asian value and aged care Geriatr Gerontol Int 20044521 5 18 Chow NWS, Writing Results and Discussion Example.docx, A 6 month old infant weighing 15 lb is admitted with a diagnosis of dehydration, ng_Question_-_Assessment_1_-_Proposing_Evidence-Based_Change.doc, The Social Security checks the Government sends to grandmothers are considered A, 03 If a covered member participates on the clients attest engagement or is an, AURETR143 Student Assessment - Theory v1.1.docx. But if they were sitting facing north, they would lay out the story from right to left. And so for example, if the word chair is masculine in your language, why is that?