Why Do We Believe In Unbelievable Things?

More From This Episode

Part 4 of the TED Radio Hour episode Why We Lie.

About Michael Shermer's TEDTalk

Michael Shermer says the human tendency to believe strange things boils down to two of the brain's most basic, hard-wired survival skills.

About Michael Shermer

Michael Shermer is the founder and publisher of Skeptic Magazine. He writes a monthly column for Scientific American, and is an adjunct professor at Claremont Graduate University and Chapman University. He's the author of The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies—How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths.