Podcasts by People Who Read People: A Behavior and Psychology Podcast
This is a podcast aimed at better understanding other people, and better understanding ourselves. For details, and to get a premium subscription, see www.behavior-podcast.com. On this podcast, I (Zachary Elwood) talk to people from a wide range of fields about how they understand and make use of human behavior and psychology. I occasionally focus on political polarization (and have written a book on that topic). Popular episodes include: behavioral indicators of healthy & unhealthy relationships, reading poker tells, indicators of fake online reviews, and interrogation techniques (to name a few). My main claim to fame is my poker tells work: my first book, Reading Poker Tells, has been translated into 8 languages.
Further podcasts by Zachary Elwood
Podcast on the topic Sozialwissenschaften
All episodes
On how being distant makes it easier to kill (and do other things), with Abe Rutchick from 2022-02-08T17:00
Abe Rutchick talks about his psychology research that showed that killing is easier at a distance, how the experiment was designed, and about antisocial behavior in general being more likely whe...
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On American polarization and being a black conservative, with John Wood Jr. from 2022-02-03T06:00
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 Am...
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The awe and the horror of existence, with existential psychologist Kirk Schneider from 2022-01-28T07:00
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, an...
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What conversation analysis teaches us about persuasive language, with Elizabeth Stokoe from 2022-01-15T11:00
A 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...
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How many Trump supporters really believe the election was rigged?, with Tom Pepinsky from 2022-01-06T12:00
A talk with political scientist Thomas Pepinsky, who has studied, amongst other things, beliefs that elections aren't legitimate. Topics discussed include: How much can we deduce from U.S. ...
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Inherent aspects of social media that amplify divides and bad thinking from 2021-12-27T20:00
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. Muc...
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Artificial intelligence and the nature of consciousness, with Hod Lipson from 2021-12-21T08:00
A talk with roboticist and artificial intelligence researcher Hod Lipson. Topics include: how close we are to self-aware machines; research strategies that will likely yield self-aware machines;...
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Does video surveillance decrease crime?, with Eric Piza from 2021-12-04T10:00
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 ca...
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Rittenhouse verdict reactions and political polarization from 2021-11-22T11:00
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 polari...
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Conversation analysis and ethnomethodology, with Saul Albert from 2021-11-12T13:00
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 conve...
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Tracking people over land, aka"sign cutting,"with Rob Speiden from 2021-10-28T05:00
An interview of Rob Speiden, an expert in sign cutting, which is the tracking of humans or animals over the ground using clues of physical disturbance. Rob's site is at www.trackingschool.c...
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What does research say about how social media affects polarization?, with Emily Kubin from 2021-10-13T17:00
A 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 h...
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Understanding behavior and psychology as a professional musician, with Ben Tyler (aka Small Skies) from 2021-10-03T09:00
An interview with Ben Tyler, a professional musician and musical educator based in Portland, Oregon, about reading and understanding people in the musical world. Topics include: reading fellow b...
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Nostalgia and our attraction to the past, with Jannine Lasaleta from 2021-09-15T19:00
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 conne...
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Is paying so much attention to politics hurting us?, with Chris Freiman from 2021-09-07T19:00
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 attenti...
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How has polarization affected beliefs about election security?, with Jennifer Cohn from 2021-08-31T07:00
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...
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Does blaming"media"help us avoid personal responsibility?, with Elizaveta Friesem from 2021-08-18T06:00
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&qu...
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Reading poker tells, with Dara O'Kearney from 2021-08-11T11:00
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 te...
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What are the factors in American police violence? (pt 2), with police captain James Mitchell from 2021-08-07T07:00
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 o...
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Why do so many people want to watch the world burn?, with Kevin Arceneaux from 2021-07-27T17:00
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 view...
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What is quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's tell?, with Jon Hoefling from 2021-07-25T09:00
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 h...
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Can gender identity theory itself create gender dysphoria?, with Carey Callahan from 2021-07-17T16:00
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 ...
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How might we better connect with people?, with Ted Brodkin and Ashley Pallathra from 2021-07-14T05:00
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 o...
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Reading tells in the video game Apex Legends, with Brandon Singer, aka Nocturnal from 2021-06-26T10:00
An interview with professional gamer Nocturnal (OhNocturnal on Twitch), about reading opponent behavior in Apex Legends. We also talk about the financial aspects of being a pro video gamer.
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Reading opponent tells in tennis, with Carlos Goffi from 2021-06-04T12:00
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 coache...
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Why are American cops so violent? (pt 1), with police captain James Mitchell from 2021-04-19T06:00
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 g...
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Living with anxiety, with Scott Stossel, national editor of The Atlantic from 2021-04-14T07:00
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 i...
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Psychological and environmental factors in psychosis and schizophrenia, with Nathan Filer from 2021-03-27T06:00
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 e...
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I talk to an 8-year-old kid from 2021-02-25T07:00
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 T...
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Gina Assaf, who has"long haul"covid, discusses her research on it from 2021-02-23T07:00
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 mo...
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Why hasn't crowdsourcing of medical data from public disrupted healthcare?, with Jamie Heywood from 2021-02-05T10:00
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 r...
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Reading online dating profiles (part 2), with Scott from 2021-01-26T15:00
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 ...
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Reading online dating profiles (part 1), with Celia from 2021-01-20T08:00
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 sh...
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How does a disbelief in free will affect one's life?, with physicist Daniel Whiteson from 2021-01-09T14:00
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 p...
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How does aphantasia (lack of mental imagery) impact one's life?, with Zach Elwood from 2020-12-09T18:00
An interview of host Zachary Elwood about his own aphantasia, which is defined as an inability to visualize images mentally. This is a rebroadcast of an interview from The Untypical Podcast, hos...
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How do insults and hurt feelings affect political conflicts?, with Karina Korostelina from 2020-11-25T13:00
An interview with Karina Korostelina, a social psychologist and the author of Political Insults: How Offenses Escalate Conflict. We discuss her work creating categories for insults, the role ins...
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Why does democracy fall apart and authoritarianism rise?, with Thomas Carothers from 2020-11-13T10:00
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 situatio...
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Questioning how much social media plays a role in political polarization, with Levi Boxell from 2020-11-11T15:00
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...
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Are some political party stances due to randomness and chance?, with Michael Macy from 2020-11-06T14:00
An interview with Dr. Michael Macy of Cornell University, who has done research on "opinion cascades," showing that some political party stances on specific issues may be rather arbitr...
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How does Facebook increase political polarization and animosity?, with Jaime Settle from 2020-10-22T11:00
A talk with Dr. Jaime Settle, a political scientist who has studied how social media may be increasing political animosity and division. She is the author of Frenemies: How Social Media Polarize...
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Examining causes of polarization in the U.S. and other countries, with Jennifer McCoy from 2020-10-08T18:00
Jennifer McCoy, a specialist on political polarization and election processes, talks about problematic political polarization in the United States: how it compares to other countries that have s...
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Do violent protests and riots cause people to vote more conservatively?, with Omar Wasow from 2020-09-16T23:00
An interview with Dr. Omar Wasow, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Politics at Princeton, and author of a paper entitled "Agenda Seeding: How 1960s Black Protests Moved Elites, P...
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Understanding violent protester behavior: an interview with a Portland antifa/BLM protester from 2020-09-01T22:00
An interview with a self-described anti-fascist who has frequently taken part in the more militant and unlawful aspects of the BLM-focused protests and riots that have occurred in Portland, Oreg...
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Did Cambridge Analytica exaggerate their abilities and not actually do anything impressive?, with Dave Karpf from 2020-08-22T09:00
Political scientist David Karpf talks about Cambridge Analytica, and about how their perception by many as masters of advanced digital influence (as portrayed in, for example, the documentary Th...
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Evaluating psych patients in the ER, and discussion of personality disorders, with Rob Tarzwell from 2020-08-09T11:00
Dr. Rob Tarzwell talks about his experiences being a psychiatric doctor in Canadian ER (emergency room) settings, and the challenges of evaluating and diagnosing patients. Topics include: strate...
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Is some offensive behavior due to psychological conditions?, with Timothy Jay from 2020-08-01T19:00
A talk with psychologist and expert on cursing Dr. Timothy Jay about some lesser known factors that can be present when people use offensive language, with a focus on the modern phenomenon of vi...
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Can you predict schizophrenia by studying the language of teenagers?, with Neguine Rezaii from 2020-07-16T18:00
An interview with psychology researcher Dr. Neguine Rezaii about her work using machine learning to predict conversion in teenagers from prodromal symptoms to psychotic episodes. The two languag...
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Can you see what people are thinking with a scan of their brain?, with Marcel Just from 2020-06-06T16:00
An interview with Dr. Marcel Just about his research using fMRI brain imaging to identify brain activity associated with specific thoughts: for example, identifying that a subject is thinking ab...
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Indicators that English text is written by a native Russian speaker, with Brian Baer from 2020-05-28T22:00
A talk with Dr. Brian Baer, a skilled translator, about indicators in an English language text that the author may be native-Russian. Also discussed are Russia's attempts at online disinfor...
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Interpreting brain imaging, with Rob Tarzwell from 2020-05-19T21:00
A talk with Dr. Rob Tarzwell about his research using SPECT neuroimaging to find indicators of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This work was voted by Disc...
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Reading behavior in Rock Paper Scissors, with Jason Simmons, aka Master Roshambollah from 2020-03-24T19:00
A talk with Jason Simmons (aka Master Roshambollah), an experienced Rock Paper Scissors player. Simmons discusses how serious RPS players try to read and influence the behavior of their opponent...
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Driving a San Francisco city bus, with Brendan Bartholomew from 2020-03-19T20:00
A talk with Brendan Bartholomew, a San Francisco bus driver and writer. Brendan talks about how understanding human behavior plays an important role in his duties as a city bus driver. Topics: b...
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What does skin conductance (aka GSR aka EDA) tell us?, with Christopher Moyer from 2019-12-28T15:00
A talk with Dr. Christopher Moyer, PhD, about measuring skin conductance, also called electrodermal activity (EDA) and galvanic skin response (GSR): what it is, what it's thought to measure...
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Behavior in social deduction game Secret Hitler, with Polina Vorozheykina from 2019-11-01T13:00
A talk with Polina Vorozheykina, a software engineer based in Portland who is skilled at social deduction games like Secret Hitler, Werewolf/Mafia, Resistance, and Avalon. We do a quick review o...
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Indicators of fake Amazon reviews, with Olu Popoola from 2019-08-04T13:00
A talk with Olu Popoola, who is a forensic linguistic analyst, deception researcher, and fraud investigator. We talk about the science of using "coherence relations" (i.e., how the phr...
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Prison life and behavior, with Benjamin Moots from 2019-08-02T00:00
A talk with Benjamin Moots, who served 15 years in prison for second degree murder, mostly in maximum security settings. Topics include: his story of what led to his murder conviction, descripti...
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Reading indicators of good and bad relationships, with Brandi Fink from 2019-06-01T14:00
A talk with Dr. Brandi Fink, a psychology researcher who has done work analyzing the interpersonal dynamics of couples and families, including couples and families having physical abuse and drug...
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Reading customers in door-to-door sales, with Conrad Smith and Dave Mock from 2019-05-14T22:00
A talk about how understanding psychology and behavior can play a role in successful door-to-door sales. Host Zach Elwood interviews two experienced door-to-door salespeople: Conrad Smith, who w...
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Restaurant and service industry psychology, with Robin Dibble from 2019-04-19T20:00
A talk with Robin Dibble, an experienced service industry professional who has worked all sides of the restaurant business, from waiting tables, to cooking, to managing restaurants and nightclub...
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Psychology and behavior in MMA and jiu-jitsu, with Robert Drysdale from 2019-03-17T21:00
A talk with Robert Drysdale, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu and mixed martial arts expert and world champion, on the roles psychology and predicting opponent behavior can play in professional fighting. T...
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Reading opponent behavior in the sport of fencing, with Seth Baldwin from 2019-03-08T21:00
A talk with Seth Baldwin about the sport of fencing and the roles that psychology and predicting opponent behavior can play in the sport. Baldwin is an experienced fencer who, at the peak of his...
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Social engineering, with Jenny Radcliffe from 2019-01-09T21:00
A talk with Jenny Radcliffe, an expert in social engineering: the manipulation of people to gain access to information or materials. Radcliffe talks about her work infiltrating companies as a pa...
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Interrogation techniques, with David Zulawski from 2018-12-14T15:00
A talk with David Zulawski, an expert in interrogation/interview techniques. Zulawski is co-owner of Wicklander Zulawski and Associates (w-z.com), a firm specializing in interview and interrogat...
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Jury selection strategies, with Christina Marinakis from 2018-09-23T21:00
A talk with Dr. Christina Marinakis, J.D., Psy.D., jury selection and voir dire expert. Marinakis is the Director of Jury Research at Litigation Insights, a large trial consultancy firm. Dr. Mar...
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Reading the audience when doing standup comedy, with Alex Falcone from 2018-08-20T21:00
An interview with Portland, Oregon-based comedian Alex Falcone about the role of understanding and using human psychology and behavior in stand-up comedy.
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Reading the audience when doing standup comedy, with Alex Falcone from 2018-08-20T21:00
An interview with Portland, Oregon-based comedian Alex Falcone about the role of understanding and using human psychology and behavior in stand-up comedy.
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Reading the audience when doing standup comedy, with Alex Falcone from 2018-08-20T21:00
An interview with Portland, Oregon-based comedian Alex Falcone about the role of understanding and using human psychology and behavior in stand-up comedy.
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