Why We Ask Why

The Story of Stories

Hidden Brain, 26 October 2026. The author is the guest. The book comes up at 20 min 19 sec in.

Princeton psychologist Tania Lombrozo joins host Shankar Vedantam to discuss the science of explanation. Their conversation covers how explanations help us anticipate others' behaviour, how culture transmits explanations across generations, the 'self-explanation effect' (learning by articulating one's own understanding), the pleasure of resolving mystery, and cases where explanations disappoint—such as learning how a magic trick works. Lombrozo also recounts a personal anecdote about jumping to the wrong explanation for her then-boyfriend's behaviour on her birthday.

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