People Who Read People: A Behavior and Psychology Podcast

Psychologist and magician Anthony Barnhart discusses some behaviors magicians use to misdirect attention and manipulate an audience. Other topics include: the role blinking can play in misdirection; magic acts that claim to use psychology and behavior-manipulation to achieve their feats (e.g., Derren Brown); neuro-linguistic programming (NLP); a magic show Tony was impressed by recently, and more. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vanessa Otero, founder of Ad Fontes Media, specializes in media bias and its impact on political polarization. She discusses the skepticism surrounding efforts to bridge political divides and the misconceptions that can arise in depolarization work. Otero emphasizes the importance of empathy over contempt in communication, the complexities of political narratives, and the damaging effects of dehumanizing language. They explore techniques for respectful dialogue, urging listeners to engage with opposing views to foster understanding and reduce divisiveness.

I talk with Liz Stokoe, who studies conversation analysis (CA) and is the author of the book "Talk: The Science of Conversation." Stokoe studies how language choices can impact us and change our behavior, often without us being aware of that. Topics include: the more surprising and interesting things Stokoe has found in her work; the popularity of the very wrong "most communication is non-verbal" concept; the practical use of CA work in persuading people to do things; why Stokoe analyzes scripts from comedy shows (like Friends) in her work; perceptions that men and women talk differently; ideas about building rapport. 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 Leonard Saxe, who is known for, amongst other things, his research into lie detectors (also known as polygraphs). Topics discussed include: why polygraphs and other forms of deception detection are unreliable; the use of polygraphs as a tool to extract information and confessions; the Richard Ames case, which involved a high-level CIA employee spying for the Soviet Union and beating a polygraph when questioned; a story where someone’s life was ruined due to cops trusting polygraph evidence far too much; and more. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode examines a video from 2020 that seemed to show a black person being harassed by a racist white woman. The video was shared by the celebrity gossip personality Perez Hilton, and was then picked up by several low-quality news sites, like RawStory.com and DailyDot.com. But the video was staged; it was done as a joke, for reasons unknown. This episode examines the reasons why I confidently believed the video was staged after watching it for just a few seconds. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A reshare of a 2022 talk I had with existential psychologist Kirk Schneider. We talk about existential psychology and the power of being able to better understand and recognize the core anxieties we all have about existence, such as our fear of death, meaninglessness, isolation, and freedom. Other topics: how existence can be awe-inspiring but also terrifying; what “existential psychology” and “humanistic psychology” are and how those forms of psychology/therapy differ from more well known and traditional forms of therapy (e.g., psychotherapy); the psychology behind political polarization and narcissism. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thoughts about how an awareness of life's strangeness might impact us, both positively and negatively, and how that might relate to existential psychology concepts. Topics include: how an awareness of life's strangeness might be seen to be a core existential stressor (like the fear of death, or fear of isolation); how this might relate to religious/spiritual experience; how this might relate to traumatic experience and PTSD; how being aware of life's strangeness might make one more likely to embrace nonsensical, low-evidence beliefs of various sorts; how this might relate to mental illness (including psychosis and delusion). Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Robin Dibble, an experienced service industry professional, shares psychological strategies servers use to get more tips, effects of menu design, reading customer satisfaction, deciding to cut someone off, and considerations in designing a comfortable restaurant space.

I talk to former members of the House of Representatives Luke Messer (Republican) and Elizabeth Esty (Democrat). We talk about: political polarization; their experiences being in congress during such a highly polarized period of time; their ideas for reducing toxic 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

A talk with Russell Hurlburt, who’s researched inner experience for more than five decades. He's the author of six books and many articles on the topic of inner mental experiences. Topics discussed include: the difficulty of describing inner experience; the ambiguities in the classification of “aphantasia” (reporting no visual qualities in one’s thought processes); the ambiguities in the “inner monologue” concept; views about whether dreams are visual or not; and more.  Learn more about the show and get transcripts at⁠ ⁠behavior-podcast.com⁠⁠.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices