People Who Read People: A Behavior and Psychology Podcast

An examination of the reasons why people believe the 2020 election was "rigged," stolen, or otherwise illegitimate. This includes a talk with Peter Wood, a sociologist and political thinker and writer, who strongly believes that the 2020 election was stolen. Other topics discussed: election distrust by liberals (in 2016, for example), and how election distrust and chaos is a common endpoint for very polarized democratic nations. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A talk with Dino Levy about his research team's research, which used monitoring of facial muscles and machine learning to detect lies at an impressive 73% success rate. Their paper was titled "Lie to my face: An electromyography approach to the study of deceptive behavior." We talk about the results, the possible explanations, comparisons to polygraph lie detection, and applications of this research and lie detection technology in general. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A talk with political scientist Thomas Zeitzoff, who has studied political conflicts. We talk about survey results that show an increase in Americans' willingness to support political violence, and how that relates to our fears over future violent conflicts and "civil war" scenarios in America. Other topics discussed include: the ambiguity in political surveys; how overstated claims of support for political violence can lead to a self-reinforcing dynamic and a self-fulfilling prophecy; the psychology of polarization; the Ukraine-Russia conflict and the role of social media in that; the effects of social media on society in general. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brandon Sheils is a professional poker player who recently did a scientific study of poker tells as part of getting a Masters degree in Psychology. Topics discussed: the challenges of studying poker behavior; how he structured his study; what the results were; AI and machine learning potential for studying behavior; some times he's used behavior to make a poker decision. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Psychological researcher Abe Rutchick talks about his work showing that killing is easier at a distance. He talks about how the experiment was designed, and about antisocial behavior in general being more likely when at a distance. We talk about his research related to how people attribute moral responsibility when it comes to harm inflicted by autonomous self-driving vehicles. And we talk about some studies he worked on that involved poker. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Wood Jr. is a leader and ambassador of the depolarization group Braver Angels. He ran for Congress in 2014 as a Republican against Maxine Waters. Topics discussed include: the history of American polarization; us-vs-them behaviors of leaders on both political sides; what drew him to conservative politics; how traditional conservatism differs from the Trump brand of conservatism; what it's like being black and conservative; black American political thought; GOP efforts to make voting harder. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A talk with Kirk Schneider, an existential-humanistic psychologist and therapist, and the author of many books, including "Existential-Humanistic Therapy," "Awakening to Awe," "The Polarized Mind," and more. We talk about: how existential psychology is about facing the givens of life (e.g., fear of death, isolation, meaninglessness, freedom) and why that can be so helpful to people; how our society tends to avoid talking about these deep questions and stresses; the psychology that drives extreme polarization and narcissism; and more. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I talk with Liz Stokoe, a conversation analysis (CA) researcher and the author of "Talk: The Science of Conversation." This is my second episode focused on CA. Topics discussed include: What are some of the most useful learnings from CA, in Liz's view? Does the common perception that men and women talk differently have much scientific support? How do the "turns we take" help define us in others' eyes? Why is the "most communication is non-verbal" concept wrong and yet so popular? What do people get wrong with their focus on "rapport"? What can CA teach us about political polarization dynamics and how to persuade others or avoid angering others? Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I talk with political scientist Thomas Pepinsky, who has studied, amongst other things, American distrust in elections. Topics discussed include: How much can we deduce from U.S. surveys that show high distrust in election legitimacy (from both conservatives and liberals)? To what extent do Trump supporters really believe the 2020 elections were rigged? Is there ambiguity in some of the survey questions related to election distrust that prevent us from getting a clear view of this topic? If Trump had succeeded in overturning the 2020 election, what would life in the U.S. be like? Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a piece that I, Zach Elwood, wrote about the ways in which social media (and internet communication more broadly) may be amplifying us-versus-them polarization and extreme thinking. Much of the mainstream coverage of how social media may be amplifying divides and making people unhappy is on product-specific features and algorithms. But what if there are inherent aspects of internet communication that amplify animosity and bad thinking, no matter the format or structure of the tool? What if "the medium is the message" in some way? This piece examines the psychological processes by which social media may be deranging us and talks about strategies for reducing unhelpful group-versus-group animosity. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A talk with roboticist and artificial intelligence researcher and roboticist Hod Lipson. Topics include: how close he thinks we are to genuinely self-aware machines; research strategies that he sees as most likely to yield self-aware machines; how do we define what it means to be self-aware; how existentialist questions might relate to AI consciousness questions; his views of the risks of AI; how such research can help us better understand human minds and behavior. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A talk with criminologist Eric Piza about how video has affected crime rates. Topics discussed include: what the research shows about video surveillance and crime reduction; what factors make camera presence more likely to be effective; the effectiveness of police body cams; some practical ideas for how one might discourage crime at one's property; and the role of America's huge number of guns on violence by police. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Zachary Elwood examines liberal reactions about the Rittenhouse verdict and how some of the more extreme and pessimistic reactions may be seen as being caused by political us-vs-them polarization. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A talk with social scientist Saul Albert (saulalbert.net) about conversation analysis — the scientific analysis of talking — and the wider field of ethnomethodology. Topics discussed: what conversation analysis (CA) is and how it's done; some of the interesting findings in CA; Saul's own research; the complexity and difficulty of communication; the role of silence in conversation; transcription/notation methods used; and more. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I talk with Rob Speiden, an expert in sign cutting, which is the tracking of humans or animals over the ground using clues of physical disturbance. Topics discussed include: common methods of tracking; how tracking is used in search and rescue scenarios; debunking some misconceptions about what's possible with tracking; the importance of being fully aware and open to all sensory input; and interesting stories from his career. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I talk with Emily Kubin, who recently, with her co-researcher Christian Von Sikorski, did a comprehensive review of 121 studies on social media effects on political polarization. We talk about her research, why polarization is a problem, the different types of polarization (affective vs ideological), our psychology tendency to become us-versus-them in our thinking, her own opinions on what social media is doing to us, and the mechanisms by which social media may be amplifying polarization. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I talk with Ben Tyler, a professional musician and musical educator based in Portland, Oregon, about reading and understanding people in the musical world. (I use Ben's music for my intro music.) Topics include: reading fellow band members' gestures and eye contact in jazz and other musical performances; being able to tell when audiences are having a good time or not; how practicing improvisation can make us more flexible; and the social aspects of the musical world. Ben's personal musical project is called Small Skies. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A talk with Jannine Lasaleta, who has researched the psychological effects of nostalgia, including how nostalgic feelings make people more loose and uncaring with money. We talk about the connection between our desire for nostalgia and our desire to engage in old-fashioned or ancient or "authentic" activities . We talk about how our attraction for these things might be connected to our search for meaning, our desire to have a consistent and stable sense of self, and our attempt to fend off existential anxieties related to meaninglessness and isolation. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you're someone who pays a lot of attention to politics, but feels that doing so makes you miserable, this may be an important listen. What if someone were to tell you that paying attention to politics is not a morally correct way to spend your time and energy? Political philosopher Chris Freiman is the author of "Why It's OK to Ignore Politics." He makes a case that paying a lot of attention to politics is often a waste of time, and may even be immoral compared to other ways you could be spending your time and energy. We talk about how our collective focus on and anger about politics may be contributing to society's us-versus-them animosity and polarization (which may be the root cause of our dysfunction). Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jennifer Cohn is an attorney and election integrity advocate. Since 2016 she has been drawing attention to problems with U.S. election security and was frustrated during the Trump admin years to see the GOP block efforts to improve security. Now that GOP has become the party of "the election is illegitimate", things have swung the other way and it is Democrats who seem unwilling to acknowledge flaws that many on that side were willing to talk about up until recently. We talk about how politics and polarization can impact attempts to solve election security problems, and she gives insights on the problems she sees with elections. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elizaveta Friesem thinks and writes about media and how we relate to it. Her recent book is called "Media Is Us" and it examines the idea that media is not something "out there" but more something that is part of us, something that happens internally, similar to any other human communication. And perhaps this means that acting as if "media" of various sorts is to blame for various problems is a simplistic way to view the world. We talk about the need for personal responsibility for how we consume media, power dynamics in society, the power of empathy and understanding others, and more. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An interview with professional poker player Dara O'Kearney about poker tells (behavioral patterns in poker). We talk about how useful tells are compared to strategy, what are some of the tells he's used, how his opinion about tells has changed over time. We also discuss poker more generally, including its complexity, game theory optimal topics, how running long distance may have helped him with poker, and more. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The second of two interviews with James Mitchell, a recently retired police captain who worked in Prince George's County, Maryland. We attempt to understand the factors behind the problem of American cops having a high rate of shootings and other forms of excessive force. Factors discussed include: the role of guns, racism, the fact that juries seldom convict cops, police unions, and cops living in the communities they police. (In the first interview, other factors, like mental health and approach/de-escalation strategies, were discussed.) Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An interview with Kevin Arceneaux, a researcher on the “need for chaos” research project, which found that a surprising number of people, around 40% of those polled, seem to have antisocial views about society in that they either agreed with or did not disagree with statements like “When I think about our political and social institutions, I cannot help thinking 'just let them all burn'?” We talk about what the study entailed, and what the factors could be that help explain this surprising find. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A talk with sports analyst and broadcaster Jon Michael Hoefling, who writes for Deadspin. We discuss a recent story about Steelers quarterback Roethlisberger and an apparent tell he has, where his foot position indicates whether he'll run or pass. We also discuss some other tells in football and sports in general, including the story about Andre Agassi having a read on Boris Becker, and some tells in baseball. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An interview with Carey Callahan, a therapist who writes about gender dysphoria and transgender issues, with a focus on medical and healthcare aspects. Topics include: why well meaning attempts at discussing transgender topics can inspire so much anger; how polarization on this topic relates to polarization in other areas; controversy around how many obstacles there should be for someone who wants to transition; criticisms of gender identity theory; the idea that gender identity theory itself may be amplifying dysphoric symptoms; the role of environmental factors in gender dysphoria. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How might we connect better with each other? An interview with Ashley Pallathra and Edward Brodkin, co-authors of "Missing Each Other: How to Cultivate Meaningful Connections." We talk about the obstacles we face in our attempts to form better connection with others. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An interview with professional gamer Nocturnal (OhNocturnal on Twitch), about reading opponent behavior in Apex Legends and other video games. We also talk about the financial aspects of being a pro video gamer. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An interview about the role of psychology and understanding behavior in tennis, with experienced tennis player and coach Carlos Goffi. Goffi has coached tennis for more than 30 years, has coached John McEnroe, and is the author of the well known tennis book Tournament Tough. We talk about reading opponents' physical tells and their mood, about psychological strategizing, and about the impact of personal life factors on a player's ability to compete. We also talk about Andre Agassi's claim that he had a very reliable tell on Boris Becker. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First of two interviews with James Mitchell, a retired police captain who worked in Prince George's County, Maryland. We talk about the U.S. problem of excessive police violence, with the goal of understanding some of the factors that can lead to unjustified and too aggressive police responses. Issues include: George Floyd's death and how the cops handled that; how mental health issues relate to police response issues; how cops can escalate a situation whether they mean to or not, and more. In the second interview, other factors are discussed, such as the role of guns, and racism. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I interview Scott Stossel, who is the national editor of the magazine The Atlantic, and the author of the book My Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread, and the Search for Peace of Mind. That book is a history of humanity's understanding and treatment of anxiety, and also a personal history in which Scott recounts honestly and openly his own struggles with extreme, debilitating anxiety. I talk to Scott about what he's learned in his research and personal life about the factors behind anxiety and how we might, as much as we are able to, overcome it. I (host Zach Elwood) also talk about my own struggles with anxiety, which have taken a different form from Scott's. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An interview with Nathan Filer, author of the non-fiction book 'The Heartland: Finding and Losing Schizophrenia' and the fiction book 'The Shock of the Fall'. We talk about environmental, experiential factors in schizophrenia, about the understandable pushback there can be to examining these areas, about the uncertainty around these topics, and about the power of language and the namings we give things. I also talk about the mental issues I struggled with as a young man. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, I interview an 8-year-old. We talk about such topics as: how she knows other kids want to be her friend, how she knows adults are upset with her, tricks she uses to watch more TV, the etiquette around Infection Tag (one of her favorite games), and her thoughts on various supernatural beings, including Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An interview with Gina Assaf about her patient-led research on "long haul" Covid, which refers to long term Covid-19 effects. Assaf is not a professional medical researcher; she was motivated to initiate this research due to her own covid experiences and frustration with the lack of information about her, and other sufferers', experience. We talk about the benefits and challenges of such "patient led" research, and interesting findings her team has made. One topic discussed is the similarity between long haul covid and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS, ME) symptoms. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An interview with Jamie Heywood, who got into the medical research field when his brother was diagnosed with ALS and Jamie wanted to do everything he could do to save him. Jamie started an ALS research institute, and later was co-founder and CEO of PatientsLikeMe, an organization for collecting real-world medical data directly from patients. He discusses the strengths and challenges in collecting real-world patient-reported data, why such tactics haven't been as disruptive and revolutionary as their potential suggests, and thoughts on the problems we face in medical research and healthcare solutions in general. Support the show To get ad-free episodes, and more, get a premium subscription. To learn more about the show, go to behavior-podcast.com. I'm on Twitter at @apokerplayer. See a summary of my work. Learn more and sign up for a premium subscription at PeopleWhoReadPeople.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Second of two episodes about online dating. This is a conversation about online dating with Scott, a straight man in his 30s who lives in Portland, Oregon. We talk about the reads/indicators he gets from online dating profiles and pictures that let him know if someone might be a good potential match. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First of two episodes about online dating. This is a conversation about online dating with Celia, a straight woman in her 30s who lives in Portland, Oregon. We talk about the reads/indicators she gets from online dating profiles and pictures that let her know if someone might be a good potential match. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The idea that humans don't have free will, that we don't have any control of our lives, can be a scary or depressing one for some people. This is a talk with Daniel Whiteson, physics professor of UC Irvine, about why he thinks free will is unlikely, and about the psychological and emotional impacts that can be associated with believing or not believing in free will. For more about this podcast, see www.readingpokertells.video/blog. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An interview of host Zachary Elwood about his own aphantasia, which is defined as reporting a lack of imagery and visualization in one's internal thoughts. Before hearing people talk about aphantasia, I’d never believed people had actual images in their minds when they imagined things. Honestly, it’s still hard for me to imagine such a thing is possible, and I think a lot of this comes down to ambiguity and fuzziness in describing inner experiences. This is a rebroadcast of an interview from The Untypical Podcast, hosted by Visakan Pillai. Topics discuss include: aphantasia and what it's like, aphantasia effects on life and creativity, the nature of thought and memory, psychedelic drugs, visualizing in dreams, and more. I have a second talk about aphantasia in 2024: a talk with psychologist Russell Hurlburt. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I talk with Karina Korostelina, a social psychologist and the author of "Political Insults: How Offenses Escalate Conflict." We discuss the categories of insults she describes in her book, the role insults play in political conflict, why groups and group leaders use insults, and the role of the internet in amplifying opportunities for insults and insult perception. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An interview with Thomas Carothers, an expert on foreign policy, democracy, and political polarization. He is co-author/editor of the book Democracies Divided, a summary of the national situations of several extremely polarized countries, including the U.S., Turkey, India, Poland, Kenya, and Brazil. I ask Carothers about what he views as the root psychological and social causes of extreme polarization, the erosion of democracy, and the rise of authoritarian leaders. Topics discussed include: Topics discussed: What is the state of democracy around the world and how has that changed in the past few years? What are the root psychological causes behind some countries becoming very divided and desiring authoritarian leaders/responses? Are there inherent processes that tend to lead economically successful countries to go down the path of polarization and democracy erosion? Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A talk with Levi Boxell about his research showing that older Americans, who use social media less than younger Americans, have become more antagonistic towards the opposite political party than younger people. We also discuss his research studying how political polarization has changed over time in other countries. We discuss what factors may contribute to polarization, and whether it's still possible that social media could be a major factor. He also discusses his research on news outlet bias being present in the types of politician images are chosen. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I talk with Michael Macy, whose research on “opinion cascades” show how some political group stances on issues can be rather arbitrary and due to initial conditions. Similar to how in many complex systems, slightly different initial conditions can lead to vastly different results later on, the early conditions in a country, including early opinion-holders and influencers, can influence a political party to be aligned with one or another stance on an issue. These early choices have a cascading effect, meaning that, for some issues, the political parties could hold reversed positions if things had gone a bit differently. Topics discussed: How was his opinion cascade research set up? What political party stances might be due to fundamental ideological differences versus which ones may be more arbitrary and due to chance? Could Democrat and Republican party stances on abortion, immigration, and other issues actually be reversed in a slightly different world? How does this work relate to problematic political polarization? Is there something inherent in humans that lead them to form contentious us-versus-them groups? Learn more about the show and get transcripts at ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A talk with Dr. Jaime Settle, a political scientist who has studied how social media may be increasing political animosity and division. She's the author of "Frenemies: How Social Media Polarizes America," which describes her research showing how Facebook seems to increase people's animosity towards members of the opposite political party. Topics discusssed include: inherent aspects of internet communication that likely increase polarization, apart from product feature choices; the pathway of how Facebook users (and other social media users) become more aware of others’ political views and more judgmental of them; the darker psychological tendencies activated by social media; the role of the out-group homogeneity effect; things we can all do to reduce political animosity. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jennifer Lynn McCoy, a specialist on political polarization, talks about polarization in the U.S. and how our problem compares to other polarized countries. Topics discussed include: the causes and dynamics of extreme polarization; how to define the term; psychological aspects of human nature that can make toxic conflict likely; the negative results of polarization; and what might be done to help prevent worst-case outcomes in very polarized countries. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An interview with Omar Wasow, author of a paper titled "Agenda Seeding: How 1960s Black Protests Moved Elites, Public Opinion and Voting," in which he found that civil rights-related violent activity in the U.S. in the 1960s shifted public opinion and voting more conservative/Republican. Topics discussed include: how violence in the streets can affect voting; what lessons there are for today's racial justice activists; negative responses to his work; thoughts on 2020 political climate and how current protests may be affecting people's politics. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An interview with a self-described anti-fascist who has taken part in the more militant and unlawful aspects of the BLM-focused protests and riots that have occurred in Portland, Oregon in the wake of George Floyd's death. This person has also taken part in physical confrontations with alt-right pro-Trump groups, like the Proud Boys. They talk about the motivations and goals of their violent activities, why violent protest is justified, and their justification for getting in violent confrontations with groups like the Proud Boys. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You've probably heard about how Cambridge Analytica used access to the Facebook data of millions of U.S. citizens and advanced digital advertising wizardry to essentially “hack” Americans’ minds and deliver a surprise presidential victory to Donald Trump. This depiction of Cambridge Analytica as nefarious data geniuses has been shared in many news stories (probably most prominently in the documentary The Great Hack). But what if this perception is untrue? What if Cambridge Analytica were exaggerating their behavior-influencing abilities, as many companies do? And what if our perceptions of CA as geniuses of digital influence is based on people accepting those exaggerated claims uncritically? That is the stance of political scientist Dr. Dave Karpf, and in this episode he explains why. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Rob Tarzwell talks about his experience being a psychiatric doctor in ER (emergency room) settings, and the challenges of evaluating and diagnosing patients. Topics include: strategies for distinguishing psych disorders from other conditions; the nature of self and consciousness and how that relates to psych issues; and the impact and meaningfulness of the language used to describe mental issues. We discuss some specific examples of people who've behaved in offensive ways and the psychological factors that can be present. And we talk about personality disorders and what those are. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A talk with psychologist and expert on cursing Timothy Jay about some lesser known factors involved in people saying offensive things. This episode has a focus on the phenomenon of videos widely shared on social media showing people saying or doing offensive things (including racist rants). We discuss factors that can nfluence offensive behavior, including Tourette's Syndrome, brain disorders like Alzheimers, substance abuse, mental illness, and personality disorders. Topics discussed include: how cursing can be governed by a different part of the brain than “normal” language; the nature of Tourette’s Syndrome, and why some TS sufferers (a small percentage) exhibit offensive language or behavior and most do not; why people with mental illness and/or personality disorders may lash out in aggressive and offensive ways as a coping mechanism; how we as a society need more understanding and empathy for the factors that can lead to outrageous and offensive behavior; social media's role in making conflict and taboo-transgression into entertainment. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices