You Are Not Ordinary
Hidden Brain

You Are Not Ordinary

B1IntermediateJuly 27, 20261 hr 35 min

Stories about unlikely heroes have captivated people for thousands of years. This week, social scientist Ben Rogers explores why the "hero's journey" resonates so deeply, and how the stories we tell about our own lives can shape our sense of purpose. He explains why seeing ourselves as the protagonists of our own stories may help us face challenges with greater confidence. Then, on Your Questions Answered, psychologist Jay Van Bavel returns to respond to listeners' comments and questions about group identities. Interested in learning how to discover the hero's journey in your own life story? Ben Rogers s...

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In the early days of Soviet cinema, a filmmaker conducted an experiment that would change our understanding of the human mind.

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0:00

This is Hidden Brain. I'm Shankar Vedantam. In the early days of Soviet cinema, a filmmaker conducted an experiment that would change our understanding of the human mind. Lev Kuleshov showed an audience a short film featuring a famous actor. The footage of the actor was always the same, a single, unmoving, and entirely neutral expression.

0:23

But the filmmaker intercut the shot with three different images, a bowl of hot soup, a child in a coffin, and a woman reclining on a sofa. Even though the actor's face never changed, the audience was mesmerized by his performance. When paired with the soup, they saw a man gripped by hunger.

0:44

When paired with the coffin, they saw a face transformed by grief. They didn't see a sequence of unrelated pictures. They saw an integrated story. The human brain is wired to make connections like this.

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