This is Hidden Brain.
I'm Shankar Vedantam.
If you look down the history of the world, you see a pattern repeat itself over and over again.
For lengthy periods of time, groups, communities, and even nations can find themselves stuck.
Years go by, sometimes decades, even centuries, and nothing shifts.
And then a small group of people, sometimes even just one or two, decide they've had enough and start to foment change.
At first, it looks impossible.
The odds are too steep, the opposition too strong.
But then, the impossible happens.
And soon after, the change that seemed impossible appears like it was inevitable.
In our story last week, we explored the psychology of learned helplessness.
When people are shown over and over that they cannot change their lives or circumstances,
they eventually stop trying to bring about change in their lives and circumstances.
If you missed that story, you can find it in our podcast feed or at hiddenbrain.org.
It's titled How to Make a Difference, Part 1. Today, we look at the psychology of people
who bring about change in their own lives or in the level of groups and nations.
What prompts these brave souls to attempt to change their circumstances, even when it looks difficult or impossible?
The evidence suggests that these individuals possess a powerful weapon.
They have an internal sense of agency.
By believing that change is possible, by believing that they can be agents of change,