Shankar Vedantam
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Appearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
John has ruminated on the lie for years.
He's sharing it for the first time with a Hidden Brain audience.
From the outside looking in, his secret might seem trivial.
Sure, maybe he could have been kinder or more forthcoming with the student.
He could have said that he wasn't in a position to help.
Why has this secret weighed on him so heavily and for so long?
After the break, stories and questions about the secrets we keep and the harm they can cause.
Recently, I heard a shocking statistic.
80% of people lie to their doctors.
They bear witness to our tales of pain.
You would think we would be fully transparent with the people trying to help us.
I learned that statistic from Leslie John.
She's a psychologist at Harvard University and the author of Revealing the Underrated Power of Oversharing.
We talked with her on two recent episodes of the show.