Alix Spiegel
Alix Spiegel has worked on NPR's Science Desk for 10 years covering psychology and human behavior, and has reported on everything from what it's like to kill another person, to the psychology behind our use of function words like "and", "I", and "so." She began her career in 1995 as one of the founding producers of the public radio program This American Life. While there, Spiegel produced her first psychology story, which ultimately led to her focus on human behavior. It was a piece called 81 Words, and it examined the history behind the removal of homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
In January 2015, Spiegel joined forces with journalist Lulu Miller to co-host Invisibilia, a series from NPR about the unseen forces that control human behavior — our ideas, beliefs, assumptions, and thoughts. Invisibilia interweaves personal stories with fascinating psychological and brain science, in a way that ultimately makes you see your own life differently. Excerpts of the show are featured on the NPR News programs Morning Edition and All Things Considered. The program is also available as a podcast.
Over the course of her career in public radio, Spiegel has won many awards including a George Foster Peabody Award, a Livingston Award, an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, a Scripps Howard National Journalism Award, and a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award.
Originally from Baltimore, Maryland, Spiegel graduated from Oberlin College. Her work on human behavior has also appeared in The New Yorker magazine and The New York Times.
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An attention researcher wanted to find out how radiologists would fare in a version of the famous Invisible Gorilla study. He found that 83 percent of the radiologists failed to spot an image of a gorilla on slides they were told to inspect for cancer. It's just one example of how, when people are asked to perform a challenging task, their attention can narrow and blocks things out. -
Teachers' expectations about their students' abilities affect classroom interactions in myriad ways that can impact student performance. Students expected to succeed, for example, get more time to answer questions and more specific feedback. But training aimed at changing teaching behavior can also help change expectations. -
Our capacity to forget is as important, and certainly as interesting, as our ability to remember. But can we train ourselves to suppress certain memories, or the meaning we attach to life events? -
Play has radically changed — and not for the better, some researchers say. So, at one school in New Jersey, preschoolers are asked to fill out paperwork before they pick up their Play-Doh. The idea isn't to take the fun out of play, but to get kids to think in advance about what they're doing and how they'll do it.
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In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, almost half the residents of New Orleans are in need of mental health services. Health experts say African Americans experiencing emotional problems are not likely to seek care. This is the final of four reports in a series on mental health after the storm.
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First responders at the Biloxi police department are struggling with emotional distress of Hurricane Katrina's aftermath. They are experiencing flashbacks, waking up from nightmares and crying for no apparent reason. In the third installment of a four-part series on mental health after the storm, Alix Spiegel spoke with some of the officers who still struggle with the trauma of the storm.
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The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has taken a heavy emotional toll on people throughout the Gulf Coast region. In Jefferson Parish, just outside New Orleans, an apparent increase in the number of suicide attempts is one sign of the psychological strain. We have the second of a series of reports on mental health after the storm.
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At one Red Cross shelter in Baton Rouge, La., people who sought shelter from Hurricane Katrina are once again told they must gather a few items and leave as Hurricane Rita menaces the coast.
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An estimated 2 million Americans practice some form of self-injury, and there is a common misperception that -- like anorexia -- the problem afflicts mostly young women. But self-mutilation isn't exclusively a modern adolescent issue. The disorder is an ancient one, and it is best understood as an attempt to relieve rather than inflict pain.
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In the 1920s and '30s, Sigmund Freud's nephew Edward Bernays used his uncle's ideas -- sometimes to Freud's consternation -- to help create the new field of public relations. His influence can be felt today, including the very notion of a hearty breakfast.
