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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Jason Comely's fear of rejection was so strong that he'd become completely isolated. So he set out to get himself rejected at least once a day, every day. Funny thing is, it worked. -
Sure, you resolve to exercise more, but somehow it never happens. It could be that your environment is sabotaging you, psychologists say. A famous study about heroin and the Vietnam War explains how. -
When we talk, we focus on the "content" words — the ones that convey information. But the tiny words that tie our sentences together have a lot to say about power and relationships. -
The tobacco industry played an influential role in the funding and popularization of stress research. A vast document archive details the relationships between cigarette makers and key scientists. -
After a suicide, family members are often devastated. Depression rates are much higher than when a loved one dies naturally. But Sandy Bem's family says her approach to suicide helped them mourn. -
A computer-simulated woman named Ellie is designed to talk to people who are struggling emotionally and take their measure — 30 times per second. Researchers hope their technology, which reads a person's body language and inflections, will yield diagnostic clues for clinical therapists. -
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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What is the source of the dysfunction in the FEMA trailer parks, and what can possibly be done to help? In the second part of the Scenic Trails story, reporter Alix Spiegel talks to government officials, mental health counselors, church volunteers and others.
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The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has watched the amount of money paid to cover treatment for claims of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) rise significantly in the last five years. Some researchers believe veterans who aren't eligible for PTSD compensation are claiming disability. But efforts to redefine PTSD is alarming some veterans' advocates.
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How much does the era you grow up in affect your personality? Psychologist Jean Twenge, a researcher at San Diego State University believes that a key factor in determining primary character traits is the generation that people are born in — and there may be credence to the notion of "The Greatest Generation."
