The Hidden Brain: How Our Unconscious Minds Elect Presidents, Control Markets, Wage Wars, and Save Our Lives

by Shankar Vedantam

  Countless friends aided me as I wrote this book. Among them are Brian Lopp, Sara Borwick, Sandra Marquardt, Hans Kristensen, Paul Joseph, and Karen Williams; Alissa Trotz, Aparna Devare, Salil Joshi, Molly Hindman, Karan Singh, Maya Bhullar, Yael Intrator, and Sanjay D’Souza. I am especially indebted to Kay Intrator, Ashwin Joshi, Kiran Mirchandani, and Ena Dua for their endless love and generosity.

  I owe so much of this book to my parents, Vatsala Vedantam and Vedantam L. Sastry, who know a thing or two about fighting bias and unfairness. Gayatri Vedantam is very likely the finest sister in the world. My sincere thanks to Sudheer Tambe, Abhijeet Tambe, and V. K. Viswanathan for never behaving like in-laws.

  Through the long journey of this book, my daughter Anya filled my world with sunshine and revealed to me my own reserves of strength and kindness. My wife, Ashwini Tambe, dealt patiently with my endless distractions and insane work hours, and provided me with crucial advice when I needed it most. I will always be in their debt.

  Notes

  Chapter 1: The Myth of Intention

  the vicinity of an overweight person Michelle R. Hebl and Laura M. Mannix, “The Weight of Obesity in Evaluating Others: A Mere Proximity Effect,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 29 (2003).

  more competent based only on appearance Shankar Vedantam, “Look and Act Like a Winner, and You Just Might Be One,” Department of Human Behavior, The Washington Post, November 6, 2006.

  Chapter 2: The Ubiquitous Shadow

  people were far more honest Melissa Bateson, Daniel Nettle, and Gilbert Roberts, “Cues of Being Watched Enhance Cooperation in a Real-world Setting,” Biology Letters, Published Online, doi:10.1098/rsbl.2006.0509.

  more optimism about their lives David Hirshleifer and Tyler Shumway, “Good Day Sunshine: Stock Returns and the Weather,” The Journal of Finance, Vol. 58, No. 3 (June 2003).

  Figure 1. Pounds paid per litre Bateson, Nettle, and Roberts, “Cues of Being Watched Enhance Cooperation in a Real-world Setting,” Reprinted with permission.

  overvalue companies with easy names Adam L. Alter and Daniel M. Oppenheimer, “Predicting Short-term Stock Fluctuations by Using Processing Fluency,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 103, No. 24 (June 13, 2006).

  tips that were 140 percent larger Rick B. van Baaren, Rob W. Holland, Bregje Steenaert, and Ad van Knippenberg, “Mimicry for Money: Behavioral Consequences of Imitation,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 39 (2003).

  shaking their feet in response Tanya L. Chartrand and John. A. Bargh, “The Chameleon Effect: The Perception-Behavior Link and Social Interaction,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 76, No. 6 (1999).

  constantly adapting to different contexts Shankar Vedantam, “For Political Candidates, Saying Can Become Believing,” Department of Human Behavior, The Washington Post, February 25, 2008, p. A03.

  “calls us fire and ice” Shankar Vedantam, “Scientific Couple Devoted to Each Other and Alzheimer’s Work,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 26, 1998.

  help strangers and undermine their lovers Abraham Tesser and Jonathan Smith, “Some Effects of Task Relevance and Friendship on Helping: You Don’t Always Help the One You Like,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 16 (1980).

  success of the son Abraham Tesser, “Self-esteem Maintenance in Family Dynamics,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 39, No. 1 (1980).

  Chapter 3: Tracking the Hidden Brain

  sixteen patients with frontotemporal dementia Mario F. Mendez, Andrew K. Chen, Jill S. Shapira, and Bruce L. Miller, “Acquired Sociopathy and Frontotemporal Dementia,” Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, Vol. 20 (2005).

  researchers posed a series of dilemmas Michael Koenigs, Liane Young, Ralph Adolphs, Daniel Tranel, Fiery Cushman, Marc Hauser, and Antonio Damasio, “Damage to the Prefrontal Cortex Increases Utilitarian Moral Judgements,” Nature, Vol. 446 (2007).

  ancient rules developed Shankar Vedantam, “If It Feels Good to Be Good, It Might Be Only Natural,” The Washington Post, May 28, 2007, p. A01.

  Decreases in gray matter Jason Tregellas, “Connecting Brain Structure and Function in Schizophrenia,” The American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 166 (February 2009).

  Being able to read expressions Jeremy Hall, Jonathan M. Harris, Reiner Sprengelmeyer, Anke Sprengelmeyer, Andrew W. Young, Isabel M. Santos, Eve C. Johnstone, and Stephen M. Lawrie, “Social Cognition and Face Processing in Schizophrenia,” The British Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 185 (2004).

  Chapter 4: The Infant’s Stare, Macaca, and Racist Seniors

  newborns who were just a day Carlo Umilta, Francesca Simion, and Eloisa Valenza, “Newborn’s Preference for Faces,” European Psychologist, Vol. 1, No. 3 (September 1996).

  preferential attachment to her mother’s face I.W.R. Bushnell, “Mother’s Face Recognition in Newborn Infants: Learning and Memory,” Infant and Child Development, Vol. 10 (2001).

  scientists have found an area Nancy Kanwisher, Damian Stanley, and Alison Harris, “The Fusiform Face Area Is Selective for Faces, Not Animals,” NeuroReport, Vol. 10, No. 1 (January 18, 1999).

  dictator’s face imprinted on the moon “Iraqi Bloggers React to Execution,” BBC News, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/6228785.stm, January 11, 2007.

  the form of a human smile Pankaj Aggarwal and Ann L. McGill, “Is That Car Smiling at Me? Schema Congruity As a Basis for Evaluating Anthropomorphized Products,” Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 34 (December 2007).

  Experiments show that our unthinking tendency Gerald J. Gorn, Yuwei Jiang, and Gita Venkataramani Johar, “Babyfaces, Trait Inferences, and Company Evaluations in a Public Relations Crisis,” Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 35, No. 1 (June 2008).

  officer had treated McKinney with “disrespect” “McKinney Decries ‘Inappropriate Touching’ by Capitol Police,” FOX News, www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,189940,00.html, April 1, 2006.

  Ignoring the role of race Christian A. Meissner and John C. Brigham, “Thirty Years of Investigating the Own-Race Bias in Memory for Faces: A Meta-Analytic Review,” Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, Vol. 7, No. 1 (2001).

  “good,” “kind,” and “clean” Frances E. Aboud, “The Formation of In-Group Favoritism and Out-Group Prejudice in Young Children: Are They Distinct Attitudes?” Developmental Psychology, Vol. 39, No. 1 (2003).

  similar studies going back many years Frances E. Aboud, Morton J. Mendelson, and Kelly T. Purdy, “Cross-Race Peer Relations and Friendship Quality,” International Journal of Behavioral Development, Vol. 27, No. 2 (2003).

  assessed the racial views of children Frances Aboud and Anna-Beth Doyle, “Parental and Peer Influences on Children’s Racial Attitudes,” International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Vol. 20, No. 3–4 (1996). Aboud did not conduct her studies in the chronological order in which I have described them in this chapter. Like all journeys of scientific discovery, Aboud’s path was winding and doubled back on itself. To solve a particular problem, for example, she sometimes went back to a study she’d conducted earlier in her career. In the interest of explaining her ideas clearly, I have described these experiments in a sequence that allows ideas to unfold in a relatively linear manner. I want to make clear that this is a writer’s liberty; scientific discoveries invariably unfold in chaotic steps with numerous roadblocks and dead ends.

  a regular diet of hate speech Ibid.

  playing on a river The story was modified from the children’s book Three at Sea by Timothy Bush.

  may feel white dolls are prettier Psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark conducted groundbreaking experiments in the 1940s showing that black children believed white dolls were good and black dolls were bad. A remarkable replication of the experiment in 2005 can be viewed at http://mediathatmattersfest.org/films/a_girl_like_me.

  straight people and gay people Shankar Vedantam, “See No Bias,” The Washington Post Magazine, January 23, 2005.

  far fewer interr
acial friendships Maureen T. Hallinan and Ruy A. Teixeira, “Students’ Interracial Friendships: Individual Characteristics, Structural Effects, and Racial Differences,” American Journal of Education, Vol. 95, No. 4. (1987).

  the same phenomenon has been documented Frances E. Aboud and Janani Sankar, “Friendship and Identity in a Language-Integrated School,” International Journal of Behavioral Development, Vol. 31, No. 5 (2007).

  a close friend from another race Aboud, Mendelson, and Purdy, “Cross-Race Peer Relations and Friendship Quality.”

  When a prejudiced child was placed Frances Aboud and Anna-Beth Doyle, “Does Talk of Race Foster Prejudice or Tolerance in Children?” Unpublished Manuscript, 1996.

  six-year-olds, ten-year-olds Andrew Scott Baron and Mahzarin Banaji, “The Development of Implicit Attitudes,” Psychological Science, Vo. 17, No. 1 (2006).

  “It’s contrary to what I believe” Meet the Press, September 17, 1006.

  her ability to exert “executive control” William von Hippel, “Aging, Executive Functioning, and Social Control,” Current Directions in Psychological Science, Vol. 16, No. 5 (2007).

  If people need executive control Matthew T. Gailliot, B. Michelle Peruche, E. Ashby Plant, and Roy F. Baumeister, “Stereotypes and Prejudice in the Blood: Sucrose Drinks Reduce Prejudice and Stereotyping,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 45 (2009).

  Chapter 5: The Invisible Current

  the role that sexism plays Shankar Vedantam, “The Myth of the Iron Lady,” Department of Human Behavior, The Washington Post, November 12, 2007, p. A03.

  Andrea seemed less likeable Madeline E. Heilman and Tyler G. Okimoto, “Why Are Women Penalized for Success at Male Tasks? The Implied Communality Deficit,” Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 92, No. 1 (2007).

  the ever popular “bitch” Katharine Q. Seelye and Julie Bosman, “Media Charged with Sexism in Clinton Coverage,” The New York Times, June 13, 2008.

  “attacks were being made” Ibid.

  earn about seventy-seven cents Shankar Vedantam, “Salary, Gender and the Social Cost of Haggling,” The Washington Post, July 30, 2007, p. A07.

  women who work full-time Ibid.

  followed the lives of twenty-nine transmen Kristen Schilt, “Just One of the Guys? How Transmen Make Gender Visible at Work,” Gender & Society, Vol. 20, No. 4 (August 2006). 99 “I swear they let the guys” Ibid. 100 thirty-four-year-old “stealth” transman Ibid. 100 “from one day to the next” Ibid.

  salaries of forty-three transgendered people Kristen Schilt and Matthew Wiswall, “Before and After: Gender Transitions, Human Capital, and Workplace Experiences,” The B. E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, Vol. 8, No. 1 (2008), Article 39. 100 “While transgender people have” Ibid.

  fewer women professors Ben A. Barres, “Does Gender Matter?” Nature, Vol. 442, July 13, 2006.

  all male-female human relationships Joan Roughgarden, Meeko Oishi, and Erol Akcay, “Reproductive Social Behavior: Cooperative Games to Replace Sexual Selection,” Science, Vol. 311, February 17, 2006.

  Sex was also about building alliances Joan Roughgarden published a book in April 2009 detailing her theory of social selection. It is titled The Genial Gene: Deconstructing Darwinian Selfishness.

  Chapter 6: The Siren’s Call

  thirty-three-year-old woman Some of this information is based on interviews I conducted with Kevin Simowski, who was a member of the prosecution team that helped convict Martell Welch, and with Tiffany Alexander, an eyewitness on the Belle Isle bridge.

  Behind Tiffany, other cars stopped I drew on personal interviews and several news accounts to piece together the events that led to Deletha Word’s death. The articles include an August 24, 1995, account in the Detroit Free Press titled “Belle Isle Attack Witness Recalls No Cheering;” a September 2, 1995, article in The New York Times titled “Witnesses Recall Beaten Woman’s Final Leap;” and a Time magazine article on September 11, 1995, titled “Death in a Crowded Place.”

  account of the event pieced together John Duffy and Mary S. Schaeffer, Triumph Over Tragedy: September 11 and the Rebirth of a Business, Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, 2002.

  from their perch in the sky For a masterful account of what happened in the World Trade Center on September 11—told from the point of view of its victims scattered across the towers and on various floors—please read 102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers, a book by Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn (New York: Times Books, 2004). The book grew out of an account published in The New York Times on May 26, 2002, headlined, “102 MINUTES: Last Words at the Trade Center; Fighting to Live as the Towers Died” by Dwyer, Flynn, Eric Lipton, James Glanz, and Ford Fessenden, Alain Delaqueriere and Tom Torok.

  Beningo Aguirre published an extraordinary paper B. E. Aguirre, Dennis Wenger, and Gabriela Vigo, “A Test of the Emergent Norm Theory of Collective Behavior,” Sociological Forum, Vol. 13, No. 2 (1998).

  Actors in elevators “accidentally” dropped Bibb Latané and James M. Dabbs, Jr., “Sex, Group-Size and Helping in Three Cities,” Sociometry, Vol. 38, No. 2 (1975).

  Chapter 7: The Tunnel

  Ariel Merari once wondered Ariel Merari explained his research to me during interviews. He also shared drafts of papers and other materials. Some of Merari’s work was published in the book Root Causes of Terrorism: Myths, Reality and Ways Forward, edited by Tore Bjørgo (New York: Routledge, 2005).

  In My Father’s House Min S. Yee and Thomas N. Layton, In My Father’s House: The Story of the Layton Family and the Reverend Jim Jones, New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1981.

  Berman and Laitin convincingly argue Eli Berman and David D. Laitin, “Religion, Terrorism and Public Goods: Testing the Club Model,” Journal of Public Economics, Vol. 92 (2008).

  Chapter 8: Shades of Justice

  asked authorities to keep black “outsiders” Henry Goldman, “Jury Rules That Killer Should Die,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, February 28, 1986, p. B03.

  “Mr. Gentile, I’d just like” Commonwealth v. Ernest Porter, Court of Common Pleas, First Judicial District of Pennsylvania, Trial Transcripts, February 20–27, 1986.

  On a Thursday morning that November Commonwealth v. Arthur Hawthorne, Court of Common Pleas, First Judicial District of Pennsylvania, Trial Transcripts, Docket No. CP-51-CR-0104701–1993.

  “Get her in here!” Ibid.

  “What did you do that for?” Ibid.

  “It was fucked up” Ibid.

  “Shut up. You talk too much.” Ibid.

  some violent crimes produce death sentences Jennifer L. Eberhardt, Paul G. Davies, Valerie J. Purdie-Vaughns, and Sheri Lynn Johnson, “Looking Deathworthy: Perceived Stereotypicality of Black Defendants Predicts Capital-Sentencing Outcomes,” Psychological Science, Vol. 17, No. 5 (2006).

  “Those who bring a criminal purpose” Kurt Heine, “You Deserve the Electric Chair, Justices Tell 3 Murderers,” Philadelphia Daily News, February 9, 1990.

  less likely than their counterparts Charles S. Lanier and James R. Acker, “Capital Punishment, the Moratorium Movement, and Empirical Questions,” Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, Vol. 10, No. 4 (2004).

  A variety of reports suggest Eugene Robinson, “(White) Women We Love,” The Washington Post, June 10, 2005, p. A23.

  Sabo sentenced more people to die Richard Willing, “‘King of Death Row’ Forced from Bench: Pa. Jurist Who Has Sentenced 31 to Die Is Ordered to Retire,” USA Today, December 31, 1997A.

  “Were you able to see positively” Commonwealth v. Ernest Porter.

  “On April 30, 1985, my Philadelphia” Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Respondent) v. Ernest Porter (Petitioner), Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County, Petitioner’s Response to Commonwealth’s Letter Brief, March 22, 2007.

  Chapter 9: Disarming the Bomb

  Greenwald guessed if he gave people Vedantam, “See No Bias.”

  Many Americans are quicker to associate Thierry Devos and Mahzarin Banaji, “America = Whi
te?” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 88, No. 3 (2005).

  unconsciously associated Obama with being American Thierry Devos, Debbie S. Ma, and Travis Gaffud, “Is Barack Obama American Enough to Be the Next President? The Role of Ethnicity and National Identity in American Politics,” http://wwwrohan.sdsu.edu/∼tdevos/thd/Devos_spsp2008.pdf.

  A large majority of Americans Vedantam, “See No Bias.”

  Obama won only 43 percent Adam Nossiter, “For South, a Waning Hold on National Politics,” The New York Times, November 10, 2008.

  “Higher welfare payments do not assist” www.heritage.org/Research/welfare/BG1063.cfm.

  attitudes toward the black welfare mom Martin Gilens, “Race Coding and White Opposition to Welfare,” American Political Science Review, Vol. 90, No. 3 (1996).

  woman had been severely injured Vedantam, “See No Bias.”

  more than 60 percent of respondents James H. Kuklinski, Paul J. Quirk, Jennifer Jerit, David Schwieder, and Robert F. Rich, “Misinformation and the Currency of Democratic Citizenship,” The Journal of Politics, Vol. 62, No. 3 (Aug. 2000).

  There is experimental evidence Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr., Shanto Iyengar, Adam Simon, and Oliver Wright, “Crime in Black and White: The Violent, Scary World of Local News,” The Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics, Vol. 1, No. 6 (1996). 208 existing stereotypes and biased media coverage Gilens, “Race Coding and White Opposition to Welfare.”

  Richard L. Trumka, told colleagues A transcript of Trumka’s speech is at www.aflcio.org/mediacenter/prsptm/sp07012008.cfm, but the remarks as delivered were slightly different: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QIGJTHdH50.