What is the main message of The Hidden Brain?

The main message of The Hidden Brain is understanding how our unconscious biases influence our thoughts and actions.

Who is the author of The Hidden Brain?

The author of The Hidden Brain is Shankar Vedantam.

Society & Culture

The Hidden Brain Book Summary - The Hidden Brain Book explained in key points

Listen to the Intro

00:00

The Hidden Brain summary

Name: The Hidden Brain
Rating: 3.8 (174 reviews)
Author: Shankar Vedantam

Shankar Vedantam

How Our Unconscious Minds Elect Presidents, Control Markets, Wage Wars, and Save Our Lives

3.8 (174 ratings)

23 mins

Brief summary

"The Hidden Brain" by Shankar Vedantam delves into the unconscious biases that shape our behavior, beliefs, and decision-making. It sheds light on the ways our hidden brain influences our thinking and offers insights into how we can overcome these biases.

Topics

Race Neuroscience

Table of Contents

The Hidden Brain
Summary of 8 key ideas

Audio & text in the Blinkist app

Key idea 1 of 8

What’s in it for me? Reclaim control of your unconscious brain.

Most of us believe that we behave according to knowledge and conscious intention. Not only does this belief inform our individual experiences, but it’s also the bedrock of our social, economic, and political institutions.

But how accurate is it? If you look at the science, the answer to this question becomes unsettlingly clear: not very.

According to numerous studies, we spend much of our time on autopilot. In many ways, this is a good thing. Unconscious cognitive mechanisms enable us to navigate the world smoothly from the moment we are born. But this comes with some less-positive side effects. Inevitably, unconscious forces influence our memories, judgments, and perceptions. In these blinks, you’ll learn about the unconscious biases and errors that the author calls the hidden brain.

In these blinks, you’ll learn

why shoplifters aren’t necessarily bad people;
how to teach young children to be anti-racist; and
why criminal-justice systems should consider the effects of unconscious bias.

Evidence of the hidden brain is all around us.

Have you seen the movie The Matrix? In the film, Keanu Reeves’s character, Neo, discovers that the world is a simulated reality designed and controlled by robots. This simulation is called the Matrix. Unlike other humans, Neo gains the ability to see and manipulate the Matrix’s code, which gives him the power to emancipate humanity from the simulation.

The Matrix is an improbable sci-fi action flick – and yet it does shed some light on reality. No, we aren’t controlled by robots. But we are controlled by invisible forces. Though we’re oblivious to it, our unconscious mind constantly influences our most basic perceptions.

Our brains are designed to hide these invisible forces. But even if we never feel ourselves being manipulated, studies show that the processes of the hidden brain are always at play.

The key message here is: Evidence of the hidden brain is all around us.

Melissa Bateson is a researcher who tracked a beverage station at an office in Newcastle for ten weeks. The beverage station dispensed coffee, tea, and milk using an honor system. Posted at eye level was a sheet of paper listing the cost of each beverage. Users put money into an honor box to make their payment.

This particular station was in a secluded location, far from the eyes of onlookers who might keep people accountable for their payment. Users did not know that someone was tracking the box. Nor did they consciously register a small image at the top of the notice sheet – an image that Bateson changed every week.

During the five odd-numbered weeks, the image featured various pictures of eyes downloaded from the internet. During the even weeks, it showed nothing but flowers.

Bateson discovered something surprising. When the notice depicted images of eyes, users contributed three times more than they did when the image featured flowers. Even an image in one’s peripheral vision had the power to influence people’s contributions.

But it’s not just images that influence our behavior. A study by psychologist Rick van Baaran conducted at an Applebee’s restaurant in the Dutch town of Heerlen found that when a waitress repeated a customer's order verbatim, the customer gave, on average, a 140 percent larger tip than when she paraphrased the order.

Baaran’s research showed how people respond positively when they feel in sync with each other. The customers may not have been aware of it, but their choice to give a higher tip was determined by their hidden brain.

The hidden brain is the foundation of our social behavior.

As we’ve learned, we remain largely unaware of the hidden brain in our daily lives. But the hidden brain is more than just a glitch in our cognitive function. In fact, our unconscious guides us through the world and regulates our social interactions.

Neuroscientists don’t have a precise understanding of how unconscious cognitive mechanisms function. But they have observed what occurs in patients with conditions that affect parts of the brain thought to control these mechanisms.

The hidden brain leads children to form unconscious racial biases.

Humans are wired to recognize faces. It makes sense. Recognizing Mom provides us with food and security, and so her face becomes a symbol of safety. Soon enough, our ability to recognize faces in our own ethnic group helps us orient ourselves within a particular culture.

Unfortunately, this unconscious evolutionary trait means that we are less able to discern faces from unfamiliar ethnic groups. Today, the pervasiveness of American popular culture around the world has created a disparity in global representation. And when it comes to how white people perceive Black people in North America, the unconscious biases of the hidden brain have taken a toll.

Unconscious bias influences political elections.

Few people consider themselves racists. But, just like children, adults form unconscious racial biases based on associative patterns in the world around them.

While there are certainly people who are consciously racist, the author believes that these people belong to a minority. The real problem is unconscious racial bias.

The hidden brain creates racial disparities in the criminal justice system.

The fact that racial biases influence the criminal justice system in the United States may sound obvious to some Black Americans. Yet, for many white people, admitting this would mean redesigning the criminal justice system altogether.

In order to study the effects of bias in the criminal justice system, Jennifer Eberhardt and other researchers at Stanford University analyzed over six hundred criminal cases serious enough to sanction the death penalty. From these cases, the researchers selected photographs of Black people who had been convicted for murdering white people.

Unconscious bias undermines women in the professional world.

While vacationing on the Mexican island of Isla Mujeres, the author swam to a desolate spot away from the main snorkeling area. Just as he turned around, he was hit with a terrible realization. His journey around the bay had been aided by the ocean’s current. Without flippers or a life jacket, swimming back was going to be a battle. In the end, he made it, but just barely, and his struggle was utterly exhausting.

Reflecting on the incident, the author had another realization: his experience swimming with the current was like the unconscious gender bias aiding most men in their professional lives.

Disaster victims conform to group tendencies.

When an airplane crashed into the World Trade Center’s North Tower at 8:46 a.m. on September 11, the employees at Keefe, Bruyette, and Woods in the adjacent South Tower heard what sounded like an earthquake.

The investment-banking firm was spread between the 88th floor and the 89th floor. No one on either floor knew that just 16 minutes later, a second United Airlines plane would crash into their building, the South Tower. But this is where the similarities between the two floors ended. The people on the 89th floor stayed where they were, and nearly all of them perished. The people on the 88th floor evacuated, and nearly all of them survived.

Suicide terrorists are motivated by group norms.

The hidden brain’s proclivity for conformity isn’t limited to our response to disaster. On the other side of the spectrum, it also reveals the psychology of terrorists.

Most people assume that suicide terrorists are motivated by one thing and one thing only: religious fanaticism. Al-Qaeda suicide bombers are willing to die because they believe their sacrifice will be rewarded in the afterlife. Or so the theory goes.

Want to see all full key ideas from The Hidden Brain?

Key ideas in The Hidden Brain

More knowledge in less time

Read or listen

Get the key ideas from nonfiction bestsellers in minutes, not hours.

Find your next read

Get book lists curated by experts and personalized recommendations.

Shortcasts ^New

We’ve teamed up with podcast creators to bring you key insights from podcasts.

What is The Hidden Brain about?

The Hidden Brain (2010) reveals the function and effects of our unconscious lives. In our increasingly interconnected world, unconscious biases and errors influence our memories, judgments, and perceptions and shape our social, economic, and political institutions.

The Hidden Brain Review

The Hidden Brain (2010) by Shankar Vedantam sheds light on the unconscious forces that shape our thoughts, actions, and decisions. Here's why this book is worth reading:

Bringing together fascinating psychological research and real-life examples, it uncovers the hidden biases and patterns that influence our behavior, challenging our understanding of ourselves.
With its thought-provoking insights on topics like stereotypes, memory, and social dynamics, it deepens our understanding of how our brains operate on an unconscious level.
The book's accessible writing style makes complex concepts easy to grasp, ensuring an enjoyable and engaging reading experience throughout.

Best quote from The Hidden Brain

We are programmed to trust our memories, judgments, and perceptions.

—Shankar Vedantam

Who should read The Hidden Brain?

White people interested in understanding unconscious racial bias
Parents and teachers
Students of neuroscience or psychology

About the Author

Shankar Vedantam is an American journalist, writer, and social-science correspondent for NPR. From 2006 to 2009, he wrote about the hidden brain in his Washington Post column “Department of Human Behavior.” His popular podcast Hidden Brain has over two million downloads per week, and the Hidden Brain radio show is broadcasted to around 250 public radio shows.

Categories with The Hidden Brain

Society & Culture Psychology

Book summaries like The Hidden Brain

Subliminal

Leonard Mlodinow

How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior

31 min

4.3

The Paradox of Choice

Collected works from the supreme theorist of the conscious

20 min

4.6

Help Me, I Have No Discipline and Zero Self-Control

Vaughn Carter

The Secret Formula to Breaking Bad Habits, Mastering Mental Toughness, and Reaching Your Goals

18 min

4.3

Coming Alive

Barry Michels and Phil Stutz

4 Tools to Defeat Your Inner Enemy, Ignite Creative Expression & Unleash Your Soul's Potential

The secret methods to getting what you want

The Inner Path to Wealth

Tools for Taking Charge of Your Learning and Your Life

The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking

A Flaw in Human Judgment

Get Out of Your Head and into Your Life

19 min

4.6

How to Win Friends & Influence People

Dale Carnegie

Basic rules for how to make a good first impression

18 min

4.6

Emotional Intelligence

Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business

The Neuroscience of Manifestation and How It Changes Everything

Unlocking Deeper Learning Through the Science of Failing

16 min

How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci

Michael J. Gelb

Seven Steps to Genius Every Day

19 min

4.5

Habits of a Peacemaker

Steven T. Collis

10 Habits to Turn Toxic Conversations Into Healthy Dialogues

18 min

4.7

A Short History of Nearly Everything

Bill Bryson

A journey into the most intriguing and intractable questions that science seeks to answer

Uncover Key Ethical Questions Shaping Our Actions and Choices

A Political Satire on the Corrupting Influence of Power

Optimize Your Brain to Transform the Way You Work

How Donald Trump Squandered His Father's Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success

How to Learn and Lead in a Volatile World

17 min

This Is Why You Dream

Rahul Jandial

What Your Sleeping Brain Reveals About Your Waking Life

Jack Welch with Suzy Welch

How to successfully run a company, manage people and build a career

The New Evolutionary Science of Who We Are, Where We Come From, and What Makes Us Happy

An examination of the amoral game and techniques of seducers

The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst

The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

7 Steps to Living Your Best Life

13 min

4.0

The Art of Conflict-Free Negotiations

Halbert Ward

6 Steps to Winning Without Conflict

Explore the Hidden Powers That Govern Our World Today

A Guide for Occupants

29 min

4.4

The Brothers Karamazov

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

A Tragic Murder Mystery on the Burden of Free Will and Morality

A revolutionary approach to get the most out of working in a group

The Knowledge Illusion

Steven Sloman & Philip Fernbach

Why We Never Think Alone

The Architecture of Belief

The Case For Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress

Brave work. Tough conversations. Whole hearts.

Fix Your Craving Mindset and Rewire Your Habits to Thrive with Enough

15 min

4.1

The Sublime Object of Ideology

Slavoj Zizek

Uncover the Hidden Forces Shaping Ideology and Human Perception

17 min

4.3

The 12 Traits of the Greats

Dave Martin

Mastering The Qualities Of Uncommon Achievers

17 min

4.2

Meditations for Mortals

Oliver Burkeman

Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts

18 min

4.1

Then I Am Myself the World

Christof Koch

What Consciousness Is and How to Expand It

17 min

4.2

I Know What to Do So Why Don't I Do It?

Nick Hall

The New Science of Self-Discipline

Uncovering Hidden Manipulations That Erode Trust and Truth

17 min

3.8

People ❤️ Blinkist

Sven O.

It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. Added to that the apps ability to suggest kindred interests opens up a foundation of knowledge.

Thi Viet Quynh N.

Great app. Good selection of book summaries you can read or listen to while commuting. Instead of scrolling through your social media news feed, this is a much better way to spend your spare time in my opinion.

Jonathan A.

Life changing. The concept of being able to grasp a book's main point in such a short time truly opens multiple opportunities to grow every area of your life at a faster rate.

Renee D.

Great app. Addicting. Perfect for wait times, morning coffee, evening before bed. Extremely well written, thorough, easy to use.