Shankar Vedantam

If you're using an Apple device, go to apple.co slash hiddenbrain.

Emma Levine is a psychologist at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business.

Emma, thank you so much for joining me today on Hidden Brain.

Have you had situations in your life where you feel you had to tell a benevolent lie but later came to regret it?

If you have a personal story you'd be willing to share with the Hidden Brain audience, or a question or comment about this episode, please find a very quiet room and record a voice memo on your phone.

Two or three minutes is plenty.

Email the file to us at feedback at hiddenbrain.org.

Use the subject line, lies.

Again, that email address is feedback at hiddenbrain.org.

Hidden Brain is produced by Hidden Brain Media.

Our audio production team includes Annie Murphy-Paul, Christian Wong, Laura Querell, Ryan Katz, Autumn Barnes, Andrew Chadwick, and Nick Woodbury.

Tara Boyle is our executive producer.

I'm Hidden Brain's executive editor.

Thank you to Loom by Atlassian for sponsoring the Hidden Brain Perceptions Tour.

While on tour, audience members shared the best piece of advice they've ever received.

Here's a piece of advice that a listener named Suzanne shared at our tour stop in Baltimore.

Wonderful.

Thanks to Suzanne for sharing this bit of advice.

And thanks again to Loom for sponsoring the Perceptions Tour.

Loom is AI-first powered video communication that moves teams forward, whether you're sharing feedback, obtaining approvals, or setting context.