Rhaina Cohen
Rhaina Cohen is an associate producer for the social science show Hidden Brain. She's especially proud of episodes she produced on why sexual assault allegations are now being taken seriously, on obstacles to friendship that men face and why we rehash difficult memories.
She got her start in public radio as an intern for Planet Money. Before entering the audio world, Cohen was part of the production team for ABC News' This Week with George Stephanopoulos. She also worked as a research assistant for Rebecca Traister on the New York Timesbestselling book All The Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation,and for Peter Slevin on the biography Michelle Obama: A Life.
As a Marshall Scholar, Cohen received a master's in comparative social policy from Oxford (and while there, competed in a dance style that hasn't yet gained ground in the United States: acrobatic rock'n'roll). She holds a bachelor's degree in American studies from Northwestern University. In college and graduate school she researched family policies, traveling to Denmark, Iceland and a U.S. military base. As a 2018 , she studied journalism ethics in Germany and Poland.
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Does living with animals really make us healthier? Why do we eat some animals and keep others as pets? This week on Hidden Brain, we talk with psychology professor Hal Herzog about the contradictions embedded in our relationships with animals.
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Author Briallen Hopper takes us into her unusually expansive love life, complete with knotty familial relationships, deep friendships, and emotional investment in the fictional and material worlds.
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Nearly a quarter century ago, a group of women accused a prominent playwright of sexual misconduct. For the most part, the allegations went nowhere. In 2017, in the midst of the #MeToo movement, more women came forward to accuse the same playwright of misconduct. This time, everyone listened. On this episode — originally broadcast in February 2018 — we explore the story through the lens of social science research and ask, "Why Now?" What has changed in our minds and in our culture so that allegations of sexual harassment and assault are being taken more seriously than they were in the past? A note: This story includes descriptions of sexual harassment and assault. It may not be suitable for all listeners.
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Women in the Middle Ages were excluded from many realms: the law, universities, and surprisingly, from friendship. Clearly, that's changed — and Kayleen Schaefer's new book examines how and why.
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In the last five years, 12 percent of terrorist attacks in the U.S. were carried out by Muslims and more than 50 percent by far right extremists. So why the media focus on "Islamic terrorism"?
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Many Americans are increasingly expressing their political beliefs with their wallets. Neeru Paharia explains how we use money to tell stories about ourselves, and to ourselves.
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This week on Hidden Brain, the stories of two men who showed empathy for the other side and found themselves labeled "enemy" by their own people.
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Maz Jobrani, an Iranian-American comedian, uses humor to critique President Trump — whom he describes as "good for comedy but bad for the world."
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President Trump's executive order on refugees left travelers stranded at airports worldwide. To some, the scenes evoked images of Jewish refugees during World War II. We investigate the parallels.
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Millions of Americans seem to ignore their own interests when it comes to how they vote. Sociologist Arlie Hochschild thinks we might be turning to politics to meet emotional needs, not economic ones.