How to Make a Difference: Part 2
Think about the last time you had a discouraging thought. Maybe you told yourself, "This won't work. I'm not cut out for this." Did you take that thought as fact? Last week, we talked with psychologist Martin Seligman about why some people come to believe that their actions don’t matter. In the second part of our conversation, he explains how we can strengthen our sense of agency, learn to see new possibilities, and build confidence in our ability to shape what happens next.
- Duration
- 54m
- Broadcast on
- 28 Sep 2026
- Audio Format
- other
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Think about the last time you had a discouraging thought. Maybe you told yourself, "This won't work. I'm not cut out for this." Did you take that thought as fact? Last week, we talked with psychologist Martin Seligman about why some people come to believe that their actions don’t matter. In the second part of our conversation, he explains how we can strengthen our sense of agency, learn to see new possibilities, and build confidence in our ability to shape what happens next.
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This is Hidden Brain, I'm Shankar Vedanta. If you look down the history of the world, you see a pattern repeat itself over and over again. For lengthy periods of time, groups, communities and even nations can find themselves stuck. Years go by, sometimes decades, even centuries, and nothing shifts. And then a small group of people, sometimes even just one or two, decide they've had enough and start to form and change. At first, it looks impossible. The odds are too steep, the opposition too strong. But then, the impossible happens. And soon after, the change that seemed impossible appears like it was inevitable. In our story last week, we explored the psychology of learned helplessness. When people are shown over and over that they cannot change their lives or circumstances, they eventually stop trying to bring about change in their lives and circumstances. If you missed that story, you can find it in our podcast feed or at hiddenbrain.org. It's titled "How to Make a Difference, Part 1". Today, we look at the psychology of people who bring about change in their own lives or in their level of groups and nations. What prompts these brave souls to attempt to change their circumstances, even when it looks difficult or impossible? The evidence suggests that these individuals possess a powerful weapon. They have an internal sense of agency. By believing that change is possible, by believing that they can be agents of change, they create a force field that actually makes change possible. Today on the show, we explore research that shows that a capacity for agency is not a personality trait, but a skill that can be taught and learned. If we can learn to be helpless, apathetic and passive, we can also learn to be optimistic and agentic. The surprising signs of how people come to see opportunity were others see only roadblocks. This week on Hidden Brain. Support for Hidden Brain comes from Instagram. Instagram teen accounts automatic protections limit who can contact teens, the content they can see, and the time they spend on the app. Teens are automatically placed into teen accounts. Teens under 16 will need a parent's permission to change any of those settings to be less strict. Learn more about teen accounts and Instagram's ongoing work to protect teens online at instagram.com/teenaccounts. Support for Hidden Brain comes from Liberty Mutual Insurance. Making smart decisions includes considering how to protect your car and home and how much you're paying to ensure them. Liberty Mutual customizes your car and home insurance to save you money, because when you've worked hard for something, choosing insurance should be easy. Start your quote at libertymutual.com Support for Hidden Brain comes from Southern New Hampshire University. The brain is in fixed. It's flexible. That means we're always capable of transformation. A master's degree from SNHU can help you build the skills to become whoever you want. A leader, career changer, dream chaser. With no set class times and low online tuition, SNHU makes grad school possible, because it's never too late to learn something new. Get started at snhu.edu/brain. When we think about success, we usually focus on ingredients like talent, intelligence, and opportunity. But psychologists have found that another factor matters just as much, or even more. Before we ever take action, we carry around assumptions about whether our actions can make a difference. Those assumptions can determine whether we persist and adapt, or never make an attempt in the first place. At the University of Pennsylvania, psychologists Martin Seligman studies how people can learn to be more agentic. Marty Seligman, welcome to Hidden Brain. I'm delighted to be here. Marty, in your early days as a professor, you had a brilliant student whom you called Suzanne. Describe her for me and tell me how she responded when you placed a significant challenge before her.
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Think about the last time you had a discouraging thought. Maybe you told yourself, "This won't work. I'm not cut out for this." Did you take that thought as fact? Last week, we talked with psychologist Martin Seligman about why some people come to believe that their actions don’t matter. In the second part of our conversation, he explains how we can strengthen our sense of agency, learn to see new possibilities, and build confidence in our ability to shape what happens next.