Hey there, Shankar here. I'm crisscrossing the country for a series of live shows this summer.

I'll be sharing seven key insights from the first decade of Hidden Brain. These ideas have made my

life better. I think they'll do the same for you. Stops on what I'm calling the perceptions tour

include Clearwater and Fort Lauderdale in Florida, Portland and Denver, Minneapolis and Chicago,

Austin and Dallas, Boston, Toronto, Phoenix, and more. To see if I'm coming to a city near you,

please visit hiddenbrain.org slash tour. If you've heard my voice for years, it's going to be fun to come see me in person.

Again, that's hiddenbrain.org slash t-o-U-R.

This is Hidden Brain. I'm Shankar Vedantan.

Some years ago, psychologists at the University of Virginia and Harvard put people in an empty

room. They gave the volunteers a simple task. Sit quietly for a few minutes without distractions.

No phone, no books, nothing to do but think. Before the session, the study participants were also given a device.

It could deliver a mild electric shock.

Using it was not necessary.

It was completely optional.

The results were, well, shocking.

The majority of men and a quarter of the women chose to shock themselves rather than sit in silence.

This held true even after they rated the shock as painful.

We are led to believe in everything we hear and read that suffering is unpleasant, something to be avoided.

Every ounce of common sense tells us we should avoid something as unpleasant as an electric shock.

So what would compel people to voluntarily hurt themselves?

Today, we begin a two-part mini-series about the upside of discomfort

and the curious pleasure human beings take in seeking out some forms of suffering.

...