This is Hidden Brain, I'm Shankar Vedanta.

All of us have had moments when we censor ourselves.

A friend says something, we disagree, but instead of arguing, we smile and hide our discomfort.

We go along to get along.

There are times though, when we carry this deception a step further.

We don't just smile and go along, we actively pretend we believe the opposite of what we

really think.

Why would we do that?

Maybe we're attending a wedding and our hosts have prepared a special meal.

We don't like it, but we say it's great.

We feel it would be hurtful to say what we really think.

Or maybe there's a new initiative underway at our company.

We hate it, but we recognize that management won't look kindly at the centres.

So we pretend to like the plan.

At a larger scale, perhaps our country is doing something we detest.

We're protesting and get us in trouble with powerful people.

So we pretend to be supporters.

There are also times when we are the ones causing others to hide their true beliefs.

We are the hosts of the wedding.

Or we are the ones who are enthusiastic about a new initiative at our company or a new policy

in the country.

Others pretend to agree with us because they are afraid of what we might think of them,

...