People Who Read People: A Behavior and Psychology Podcast
Zachary Elwood
This is a podcast about deciphering human behavior and understanding why people do the things they do. I, Zach Elwood, talk with people from a wide range of fields about how they make sense of human behavior and psychology. I've talked to jury consultants, interrogation professionals, behavior researchers, sports analysts, professional poker players, to name a few. There are more than 135 episodes, many of them quite good (although some say I'm biased). To learn more, go to PeopleWhoReadPeople.com.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Oct 10, 2022 • 1h 4min
How we react when our sense of meaning is threatened, with Steven Heine
I talk with Steven Heine about how we react to our sense of meaning being threatened. What happens when our mental frameworks of how the world works don’t hold up and things seem chaotic? What happens when our sense of what’s existentially meaningful in our lives is threatened? Topics discussed: Heine et al’s Meaning Maintenance Model; existential crises, including mid-life crises and adolescent angst; how political polarization might be impacted by threats to meaning; some positive aspects to worldviews suddenly changing; and more.
Learn more about the show and get transcripts at behavior-podcast.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 1, 2022 • 58min
Is the whole world growing more polarized?, with Andrew O'Donohue
I talk with Andrew O'Donohue, co-author of "Democracies Divided: The Global Challenge of Political Polarization." Andrew has studied how societal conflicts play out in many countries, and the harm those conflicts inflict. Topics discussed include: why it is that political polarization is such a common state for humans; how polarization has played out in other countries; countries that can be compared to America in terms of polarization; the psychological drivers of polarization; the impact of social media and modern life on polarization, and more.
Learn more about the show and get transcripts at behavior-podcast.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sep 21, 2022 • 46min
Are eye movement patterns associated with personality traits?, with Sabrina Hoppe
A talk with Sabrina Hoppe about a 2018 study that showed how eye movements are correlated with personality. That paper was named 'Eye movements during everyday behavior predict personality traits.' We talk about how the study was set up, what the results were, how strong the correlations found were, reasons for why such patterns might exist, possible applications, and more.
Learn more about the show and get transcripts at behavior-podcast.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 30, 2022 • 1h 23min
Can body language actually be used to detect deception?, with Tim Levine
A talk with communication researcher Tim Levine about nonverbal behavior and deception detection. Tim's stance is that there's no evidence that nonverbal behavior is useful for detecting deception. He's the author of "Duped: Truth-Default Theory and the Social Science of Lying and Deception." His work was featured in Malcom Gladwell's book "Talking to Strangers."Topics discussed include: what the research says about nonverbal behaviors; why it's so hard to get reliable indicators of deception; common nonverbal behavior myths and bullshit; why we expect others to tell us the truth; why we tend to tell the truth; Paul Ekman's work, including micro-expressions and "truth wizards"; reading behavior in interrogations; the differences between analyzing verbal content and nonverbal behavior; the TV show Lie to Me; poker tells; and more.
Learn more about the show and get transcripts at behavior-podcast.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 17, 2022 • 53min
Reading "drug-seeking" patient behavior, with Dr. Casey Grover
A talk with Dr. Casey Grover, addiction specialist and host of the podcast Addiction in Emergency Medicine and Acute Care, about how doctors attempt to determine if a patient is trying to get a drug prescription under false pretenses (e.g., claiming to be in pain to get opioids). Topics discussed: why "drug-seeking behavior" is not a good phrase; what some classic drug-seeking behaviors are and also why they're not very reliable; steps doctors take if they think someone might have a use disorder; America's drug problems, and more.
Learn more about the show and get transcripts at behavior-podcast.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 9, 2022 • 51min
Predicting psychosis and schizophrenia by what words people use, with Neguine Rezaii
This is a reshare of a 2020 talk with psychology researcher Neguine Rezaii. She and her research team used machine learning to find language patterns used by teenagers who were at risk of schizophrenia that were correlated with later schizophrenia diagnosis. The two language patterns found in the subjects' speech were 1) a low semantic density (i.e., low amount of meaning), and 2) words related to sound or voices.
Learn more about the show and get transcripts at behavior-podcast.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 21, 2022 • 1h 23min
Reading and predicting jury behavior, with Christina Marinakis
A 2018 talk with jury specialist Christina Marinakis about how she makes use of human psychology and human behavior in her jury consultancy work. Topics discussed: jury selection procedures; what jury consultants do; the relative importance of jury selection compared to the strength of the case; clues to potential jurors' beliefs and future behaviors from their body language, verbal answers, clothes, and more.
Learn more about the show and get transcripts at behavior-podcast.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 6, 2022 • 1h 3min
How to spot fake online reviews, with Olu Popoola
A 2019 talk I had with forensic linguistic researcher Olu Popoola where we discuss indicators that online reviews are fake or genuine. We talk about his work analyzing indicators of deception, and talk about some research he did on Amazon book reviews. If you've ever read an online review and wondered "This seems fake, but how do I really know?", you'd enjoy this talk.
Learn more about the show and get transcripts at behavior-podcast.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 11, 2022 • 1h 5min
Persuasion and influence in group-conflict scenarios, with Matthew Hornsey
I talk with psychology researcher Matthew Hornsey about political polarization and the psychology behind it. Topics discussed include: why people can believe such different (and sometimes such unreasonable) ideas; persuasive tactics for changing minds (including in polarized dynamics); tactics for reducing us-vs-them animosity; why groups mainly listen to in-group members and will ignore the same ideas from out-group members; the effects of the modern world on political polarization; social media effects, and more.
Learn more about the show and get transcripts at behavior-podcast.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 22, 2022 • 1h 3min
Analyzing statements in crime and interrogation for hidden meaning, with Mark McClish
A reshare of one of my most popular episodes: a 2018 talk with Mark McClish, who's an expert in analyzing spoken and written statements for hidden meaning, and who's been a US Marshal and law enforcement trainer. He's the author of the books "I Know You Are Lying" and "Don't Be Deceived."
This episode serves as an introduction to statement analysis concepts. We talk briefly about a few well known cases, including OJ Simpson, Timothy McVeigh, Chris Watts, Making A Murderer, the KROQ radio DJ hoax, the McStay family murder, and the Van Dam child murder.
Learn more about the show and get transcripts at behavior-podcast.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
