About Shankar Vedantam
Shankar Vedantam was born in Benagaluru, India in 1969. He earned his Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in India before receiving his Masters in Journalism at Stanford University. Following his 10-year career with The Washington Post, Vedantam began working as a science correspondent with NPR. Today, Shankar Vedantam is best known for his podcast, Hidden Brain, which is based on his book "The Hidden Brain: How Our Unconscious Minds Elect Presidents, Control Markets, Wage Wars and Save Our Lives" which was published in 2010. Vedantam's podcast explores interesting perspectives on hot-button issues and reveals the science behind human behavior. Notable episodes of the series include When Did Marriage Become So Hard?, Voting With Your Middle Finger, and Hungry, Hungry Hippocampus. Vedantam has received numerous awards for his storytelling ability including from the Society of Professional Journalists, the American Public Health Association, and the Asian American Journalists Association.Shankar Vedantam's Creative Process
Vedantam's creative process starts by asking the right questions. He works to identify topics that society as a whole seems to be interested in. Oftentimes, Vedantam looks to explore heavily debated issues in the news. However, rather than just sharing his opinion on the issue, Vedantam seeks to approach these problems from a new angle. An example of this is seen in Vedantam's podcast about the Me Too movement. Instead, of advocating for one side of the issue, Vedantam asks Why Now?, and explores how recent events have lead to the movement finally happening after decades of sexual assault cases being covered up. Not only does this add a new voice to debated issues, but it also works to inform listeners in a way that other news organizations don't. In choosing to ask questions on a variety of issues, Vedantam also maintains a diverse audience. Another aspect of Vedantam's creative process is understanding his audience. Hidden Brain is "organized around that idea of stories told at various lengths", and works to give listeners just the right amount of information on a topic.The final aspect of Vedantam's creative process is collaboration. Firstly, he works with a talented team to choose and explore topics for the podcast. Additionally, as Vedantam is not an expert on all of the topics he covers, he works with experts on various issues to create a story. In their paper, "Collaboration and Creativity: The Small World Problem", Uzzi and Spiro describe "team-based collaboration in which [creatives] simultaneously incorporate their separate material into a single, seamless production". Vendatam does exactly this on his show by working with researchers from a range of disciplines such as anthropology, economics, and psychology. Oftentimes, Vedantam brings these experts onto his show to help viewers understand what their research says about a topic. For his podcast, Liar, Liar which explores the difference between those who tell white lies and infamous cheaters, Vedantam works with Dan Ariely, a professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University. Together they uncover how opportunity affects this difference in a story full of twists and turns that keeps listeners hooked. In combining his masterful storytelling abilities with interesting questions and expert testimonies, Vedantam continues to attract audiences from all over and enlighten them on the way the world works.
Short Hidden Brain Podcast:
Links:
The way Vedantam melds his storytelling with science and hard reporting is so compelling and fresh. Being able to understand people and understand how to get to their truth takes immense creativity.
ReplyDeleteHis background in electrical engineering surprises me, but I like that he reaches out to experts within the field he is researching. I feel like his background allows him to be very analytical. I don't know if it's because of my psychology background or what, but his analysis of human behavior really makes his discussion stand out more than other reports I've heard. I feel like he really gets to the issues argument and not the politics of picking one side over the other. It seems like his audience aligns with this kind of thinking. I am definitely going to look into him more after listening to the clip you uploaded!
ReplyDeleteI've been listening to Vedantam's podcasts for a while and I love how he approaches each topic - with a fresh perspective and is able to explain everything to his audience to allow for us to learn and internalize new information
ReplyDelete