It's Not My Fault!

This episode of Hidden Brain explores the concept of defensiveness and how it prevents personal growth. Shankar Vedantam interviews psychologist Emily Falk, who shares a personal anecdote about her grandmother's feedback to illustrate how defensiveness arises from the brain's tendency to conflate self-image with value. Falk discusses strategies to overcome defensiveness, including self-distancing, values affirmation, and cultivating a sense of purpose. The episode further explores how stories can bypass defensiveness and promote openness to change. In the "Your Questions Answered" segment, Ciara Greene addresses listener questions about memory and forgetfulness, discussing the relationship between technology and memory, the impact of emotions on recall, and the social aspects of memory reconstruction.