So the way you say hi in Kuuk Thaayorre is to say, which way are you heading? In this month's Radio Replay, we ask whether the structure of the languages we speak can change the way we see the world. BORODITSKY: One thing that we've noticed is this idea of time, of course, is very highly constructed by our minds and our brains. How to Foster Perceived Partner Responsiveness: High-Quality LIstening is Key, Perceived Partner Responsiveness Scale (PPRS), Toward Understanding Understanding:The Importance of Feeling Understood in Relationships, Perceived Responses to Capitalization Attempts are Influenced by Self-Esteem and Relationship Threat, Perceived Partner Responsiveness Minimizes Defensive Reactions to Failure, Assessing the Seeds of Relationship Decay: Using Implicit Evaluations to Detect the Early Stages of Disillusionment. 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. 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. But what happens when these feelings catch up with us? If you're just joining us, I'm talking to John McWhorter. 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. Subscribe to the Hidden Brain Podcast on your favorite podcast player so you never miss an episode. I had this cool experience when I was there. And if you don't have a word for exactly seven, it actually becomes very, very hard to keep track of exactly seven. 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. You're not going to do trigonometry. 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 so, for example, can I get a hamburger? L. Gable, et. LERA BORODITSKY: The categorization that language provides to you becomes real - becomes psychologically real. And then when I turned, this little window stayed locked on the landscape, but it turned in my mind's eye. 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. Many of us rush through our lives, chasing goals and just trying to get everything done. If you grew up speaking a language other than English, you probably reach for words in your native tongue without even thinking about it. The fact is that language change can always go in one of many directions, there's a chance element to it. That was somehow a dad's fashion, and that I should start wearing flat-fronted pants. Sometimes you just have to suck it up. And we looked at every personification and allegory in Artstor and asked, does the language that you speak matter for how you paint death, depending on whether the word death is masculine or feminine in your language? MCWHORTER: Exactly. 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. And maybe the convenience store or the shop is really not that far away. And as odd as that sounds, I can guarantee you if you watch any TV show with women under a certain age or if you just go out on an American street and listen, you'll find that that's a new kind of exclamatory particle. We all have to make certain choices in life, such as where to live and how to earn a living. We'll be back momentarily. If you are a podcaster, the best way to manage your podcasts on Listen Notes is by claiming your Listen Notes 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. And this is NPR. Official Website Airs on: SUN 7pm-8pm 55:27 Happiness 2.0: The Reset Button Feb 27 Many of us rush through our lives, chasing goals and just trying to get everything done. If you're like most people, you probably abandoned those resolutions within a few weeks. al, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2004. And to arrive in a new place where you can't tell a joke and can't express an idea - oh, it's just really painful because you feel like your whole self is hiding inside and no one can see it. BORODITSKY: Well, I think it's a terrible tragedy. That's because change is hard. And so to address that question, what we do is we bring English speakers into the lab, and we teach them grammatical genders in a new language that we invent. Take the word bridge - if it's feminine in your language, you're more likely to say that bridges are beautiful and elegant. It Takes Two: The Interpersonal Nature of Empathic Accuracy, by Jamil Zaki, Niall Bolger, Kevin Ochsner, Psychological Science, 2008. MCWHORTER: No, because LOL was an expression; it was a piece of language, and so you knew that its meaning was going to change. 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: Jennifer moved to Japan for graduate school. Writing has come along relatively recently. Hidden Brain : NPR You would never know, for example, that - give you an example I've actually been thinking about. A brief history of relationship research in social psychology, by Harry T. Reis, in Handbook of the History of Social Psychology, 2011. I'm Shankar Vedanta. Of course, you also can't experience anything outside of time. You can search for the episode or browse all episodes on our Archive Page. Many of us rush through our days, weeks, and lives, chasing goals, and just trying to get everything done. Elon Musk's brain chips, starvation in Somalia and Greek anguish Additional Resources Book: MCWHORTER: Yeah, I really do. So for example, English speakers, because they're very likely to say, he did it or someone did it, they are very good at remembering who did it, even if it's an accident. Purpose can also boost our health and longevity. 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. VEDANTAM: Many of us have dictionaries at home or at work, John. 585: In Defense of Ignorance - This American Life When she was 12, her family came to the United States from the Soviet Union. Our transcripts are provided by various partners and may contain errors or deviate slightly from the audio. VEDANTAM: One of the ultimate messages I took from your work is that, you know, we can choose to have languages that are alive or languages that are dead. How to Foster Perceived Partner Responsiveness: High-Quality LIstening is Key, by Guy Itzchakov, Harry Reis, and Netta Weinstein, Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2021. VEDANTAM: (Laughter) All right, I think it might be time for me to confess one of my pet peeves. So that, again, is a huge difference. Copyright Hidden Brain Media | Privacy Policy, Read the latest from the Hidden Brain Newsletter. Psychologist Ken Sheldon studies the science of figuring out what you want. So you can't see time. 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. Many of us rush through our days, weeks, and lives, chasing goals, and just trying to get everything done. June 20, 2020 This week on Hidden Brain, research about prejudices so deeply buried, we often doubt their existence. It's natural to want to run away from difficult emotions such as grief, anger and fear. She once visited an aboriginal community in northern Australia and found the language they spoke forced her mind to work in new ways. 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 My Unsung Hero: A belated thank you : NPR : 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. And there are all kinds of interesting, useful, eye-opening ideas that exist in all of the world's languages. Language was talk. Go behind the scenes, see what Shankar is reading and find more useful resources and links. You can find all Hidden Brain episodes on our website. It's how we think about anything that's abstract, that's beyond our physical senses. You-uh (ph). But she told me a story about a conversation she had with a native speaker of Indonesian. 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. 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. Maybe they like the same kinds of food, or enjoy the same hobbies. Transcript 585: In Defense of Ignorance Note: This American Life is produced for the ear and designed to be heard. As you're going about your day, you likely interact with family, friends and coworkers. 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. He's also the author of the book, "Words On The Move: Why English Won't - And Can't - Sit Still (Like, Literally).". Hidden Brain Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam Science 4.6 36K Ratings; Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships. Today in our Happiness 2.0 series, we revisit a favorite episode from 2020. So it's, VEDANTAM: The moment she heard it, Jennifer realized mendokusai was incredibly. out. Language as it evolved was just talking to an extent that can be very hard for we literate people to imagine. Google Podcasts - hidden brain There's a way of speaking right. So there are some differences that are as big as you can possibly measure. 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. Which pile do you go in, right? Hidden Brain - Transcripts I saw this bird's-eye view, and I was this little red dot. Many of us believe that hard work and persistence are the key to achieving our goals. And so I was trying to keep track of which way is which. Parents and peers influence our major life choices. 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. 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. No matter how hard you try to feel happier, you end up back where you started. BORODITSKY: It's certainly possible. 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. BORODITSKY: Yeah. MCWHORTER: Thank you for having me, Shankar. This week, we kick off a month-long series we're calling Happiness 2.0. You 2.0: How to Open Your Mind | Hidden Brain Media And after listening to you, I realize I might have to finally give in. Many of us rush through our days, weeks, and lives, chasing goals, and just trying to get everything done. Purpose can also boost our health and longevity. And there are consequences for how people think about events, what they notice when they see accidents. But that can blind us to a very simple source of joy that's all around us. See you next week. We talk with psychologist Iris Mauss, who explains why happiness can seem more el, When we want something very badly, it can be hard to see warning signs that might be obvious to other people. Copyright Hidden Brain Media | Privacy Policy, direct support to Hidden Brain by making a gift on our Patreon page, sponsorship opportunities on Hidden Brain. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #5: (Speaking foreign language). ), Handbook of Closeness and Intimacy, 2004. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Women under about 30 in the United States, when they're excited or they're trying to underline a point, putting uh at the end of things. 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. So I think it's an incredible tragedy that we're losing all of this linguistic diversity, all of this cultural diversity because it is human heritage. VEDANTAM: Jennifer moved to Japan for graduate school. So they've compared gender equality, gender parity norms from the World Health Organization, which ranks countries on how equal access to education, how equal pay is, how equal representation in government is across the genders.