How Delusions Can Actually Be Useful: Shankar Vedantam Reveals How

In this episode, we are delighted to welcome Shankar Vedantam, host of the wildly popular podcast, Hidden Brain and esteemed author of the new book Useful Delusions.

Before reading Shankar’s book and interviewing him for this podcast we were, as Shankar describes himself, card-carrying rationalists. We were firmly in the camp of believing rational, scientific findings and believing that lies and deception are harmful to ourselves and to our communities. However, Shankar walks us through a compelling argument, that paradoxically, self-deception actually plays a pivotal role in our happiness and well-being.

In our discussion with Shankar we cover:

(6:38) Speed round questions.
(11:04) The difference between self delusions being useful and being harmful.
(16:23) How nations are a delusional construct.
(23:00) Awareness of self-delusions and how daily gratitudes can shift our perspective of the world.
(25:56) Shankar’s personal story of delusional thinking.
(29:58) The role emotions play in our mood and delusions.
(35:23) How avoidance of delusional thinking is a sign of privilege.
(37:30) Why our perceptions play an important role in understanding delusions.
(44:36) Shankar’s unique approach to conspiracy theories.
(52:28) What music Shankar has been listening to during COVID.
(52:15) Grooving Session and Bonus Track with Kurt and Tim.

We really hope you find Shankar’s unique insight on how delusions are useful as compelling as we did. If you’re a regular Behavioral Grooves listener, please consider supporting us through Patreon. Thank you!