Shankar Vendantam is an American journalist and author who focuses on human behavior and the social sciences.  "The Hidden Brain & Useful Delusions" SDG will be based on two of Vendantam's books:  "The Hidden Brain:  How Our Unconscious Minds Elect Presidents, Control Markets, Wage Wars and Save Our Lives" and "Useful Delusions:  The Power & Paradox of the Self-Deceiving Brain" (co-written by Bill Mesler).  Readings will also be supplemented with short video clips, podcasts and Ted Talks that feature Shankar Vendantam.

Over a ten week period, we will read and discuss topics such as the life cycle of bias, race, gender, privilege, extremism and how our unconscious minds impact our beliefs, our politics, and the ways we interact with family, friends and society in general.  We will start with "The Hidden Brain" published in 2010 and segue into "Useful Delusions" published in 2021.  Understanding how our unconscious minds work will be particularly useful as we navigate the twists and turns that are sure to follow the 2024 election.

Shankar Vendantam is the recipient of the Edward R Murrow Award and has also received honors from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, the International Society of Political Psychology, the Society of Professional Journalists, the National Association of Black Journalists, the Austen Riggs Center, the American Psychoanalytic Association, the Webby Awards, the Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors, the South Asian Journalists Association, the Asian American Journalists Association, the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, the American Public Health Association, the Templeton-Cambridge Fellowship on Science and Religion, and the Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Journalism Fellowship.

‍