People Who Read People: A Behavior and Psychology Podcast

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