I talk to Barry Prizant, author of the popular book "Uniquely Human: A Different Way of Seeing Autism," about the often misunderstood world of autism. We explore the idea that many so-called “autistic behaviors” are actually meaningful responses to stress, overwhelm, or attempts to communicate—and that looking for the “deep why” behind people's behavior is essential. We talk about sensory sensitivity and the complexities of the autism label. Barry shares stories from his decades of work, includi...
Jun 27, 2025•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 178
Why do we feel so unsettled and agitated when the world doesn’t make sense? In this episode, I talk with psychologist Steven Heine about his Meaning Maintenance Model — a theory that explains how we react when our sense of meaning is threatened. We explore how disruptions to our mental frameworks can lead us to double down on our beliefs, seek comfort in nostalgia, or shift our focus to other sources of meaning. We discuss what this tells us about political polarization, existential crises, and ...
Jun 18, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 177
Can blockchain tech reinvent journalism—and reduce toxic political polarization in the process? In this episode, Zachary Elwood talks with Don Templeman, founder of Aemula, a radically new kind of news platform. Inspired by the decentralization and transparency of cryptocurrency and other blockchain-based technologies, Aemula aims to create a trustless, bias-resistant newsroom of the future—one where algorithms are public, incentives reward nuance, and toxic polarization is nudged downward by de...
Jun 11, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 176
Maybe you’ve heard that you can get clues about whether someone is lying by what direction they look when they talk. The most common form of this idea is that if someone is looking up and to their left, they’re more likely to be accessing real visual memories (associated with truth), and if they’re looking up and to their right, they’re more likely to be constructing visual images (associated with lies). But there is no basis for this; in fact, many studies have found evidence against that claim...
May 27, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 175
Many Americans think Trump is harming democracy; they see him as acting undemocratically in various ways. At the same time, Republicans and Trump supporters can view Democrats/liberals as themselves acting in highly undemocratic ways: as embracing various beliefs and actions that violate the spirit of democracy. I talk to Elizabeth Doll, who has worked in the political depolarization/bridge-building space for several years; she is currently the Director of Braver Politics for the organization Br...
Apr 14, 2025•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 174
A talk about hypnosis and mind control with Martin S. Taylor, a well known British hypnotist (hypnotism.co.uk). Martin is known for his stage hypnosis act but also for educating people about hypnosis and removing the illusions and mystique surrounding it. There are some people who make astounding claims that they can control and manipulate people using hypnosis. Some even claim they can get people to do things against their will and their ethics. Some of these people claim they can do this quick...
Mar 31, 2025•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 173
In March of 2024, the newsman and sports commentator Keith Olbermann tweeted that the “Supreme Court had betrayed democracy” and called for it to be “dissolved.” This was the second time he’d called for the Supreme Court to be dissolved: he did that also in 2022. This is a review of some of Olbermann’s more unreasonable and incendiary behavior over the last twenty years, with a focus on his political rage and how that relates to America’s toxic polarization problem. Because clearly there are man...
Feb 12, 2025•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 172
I talk to Dr. Jess Snitko, who has researched online dating and other online communication, about the signals and messages we send, intentionally and unintentionally, with dating app profiles and pictures. Jess earned her Ph.D. in Media, Technology, and Society from Purdue University in 2020. Topics discussed: Factors in pictures and profiles that cause people to swipe right or swipe left; the so-called “duck-face” expression some girls make in photos; men’s shirtless photos; men who post pictur...
Feb 08, 2025•59 min•Ep. 171
What if I told you the left-right political spectrum was an illusion? What if I told you there is no “left” or “right”? My guest is Hyrum Lewis, co-author of The Myth of Left and Right: How the Political Spectrum Misleads and Harms America. They argue that we’ve embraced a simplistic, faulty idea of an essential “left/liberalism” and an essential “right/conservatism.” And that, similar to embracing a faulty medical idea (like the old theory of the four humors), embracing a faulty political theor...
Jan 24, 2025•58 min•Ep. 170
Every time I go in Trader Joe's, the checkout person asks me a question of some sort. I used to think everyone there was just happy and friendly, but then I heard reports that it was more of a rule or strong encouragement that employees talk to customers. I read conflicting reports about this online and wanted to talk to someone who'd worked at Trader Joe's, to see if she could shed some light on this. I talk to Twiggy, who has a YouTube channel (youtube.com/@TwiggysDollHospital) and who makes c...
Jan 19, 2025•27 min•Ep. 169
The fraud Chase Hughes, whose major lies and unethical behaviors I’ve examined in past episodes, continues to succeed in getting popular podcasts with large audiences to interview him. Chase recently appeared on the podcast The Diary of a CEO with host Steven Bartlett; he also appeared on Patrick Bet-David’s podcast (PBD podcast). He's also been on Dr. Phil's show, and on Leon Hendrix's podcast DRVN. I examine some clips from Chase's appearances on a couple of these podcasts, as a public service...
Jan 18, 2025•59 min•Ep. 168
In June of 2024, I got an op-ed published in TheHill.com about Elon Musk's polarization -- specifically his affective polarization, which refers to how people perceive and treat their political opponents. Like many in our highly polarized, righteously angry society across the polical spectrum, Elon Musk treats the "other side" with much contempt and disdain. You can often find him insulting and demeaning people on his social media platform, as well as claiming to know with high certainty the hid...
Jan 12, 2025•21 min•Ep. 167
Brian Dunning, creator of the podcast Skeptoid, made a documentary that brings a skeptical, analytical eye to the recent UFO craze – including those three famous UFO videos released by the Pentagon that got a whole lot of attention in a 2017 New York Times article. His documentary has the tongue-in-cheek title “The UFO Movie They Don’t Want You To See” and you can find it at www.briandunning.com/ufo. I think more people need to see Brian’s movie; it explained a lot and now I feel like I finally ...
Jan 09, 2025•21 min•Ep. 166
I thought it'd be interesting to read a very dumb book from 1969 called "Face Reading: A Guide to How the Human Face Reveals Personality, Sexuality, Intelligence, Character, and More." It's about finding meaning in people's physical facial characteristics; not about reading emotions or expressions. To be clear: this is a very bad book with no sense/logic to it, basically astrology-like, and I'm reading it because I was curious what it said and thought some other people would find it interesting....
Dec 21, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 165
I ruthlessly interrogate an 8-year-old about her belief in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, and other magical creatures. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at behavior-podcast.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 21, 2024•10 min•Ep. 164
A piece I wrote for my Defusing American Anger Substack (learn more at www.american-anger.com). It’s my attempt to persuade Americans why they should see it as vitally important to work on reducing political toxicity, even as they may have various fears and grievances and anger about their political opponents. If you have skepticism about the ideas in this piece, I would ask you if you'd be willing to read my ebook on this topic, Defusing American Anger. If you want a free copy, email me via my ...
Nov 11, 2024•8 min•Ep. 163
In a recent Fox News interview, Trump was asked whether he thought there would be chaos and violence if he won the election, and his response included mentioning that, if necessary, the National Guard or other military might be needed. Many framed this response as indicating that Trump would go after his political opponents and those who opposed him using the military, leaving out the context that the question asked was about election-related violence. I discuss what this incident can teach us a...
Oct 22, 2024•27 min•Ep. 162
In the documentary Money Electric, filmmaker Cullen Hoback put forth the theory that developer Peter Todd was Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious creator of Bitcoin. In this episode, I talk to cryptocurrency expert Jeremy Clark (pulpspy.com) about this theory, with a focus on the language and behavior of Peter Todd. We discuss: the 2010 forum post by Peter Todd that forms the backbone of Hoback’s theory; Peter’s behavior in the film when confronted, which many people saw as suspicious and strange; ...
Oct 18, 2024•55 min•Ep. 161
On the Nextdoor app, a fake account succeeded in getting some personal info from me before I realized they were a scammer. I discuss how that scam went down, share an audio call I had with the scammer, and give some tips for spotting online scammer behaviors and traits. These tips are focused on online marketplace scams but should be applicable for a lot of online scammers in general. Learn more and sign up for a premium subscription at PeopleWhoReadPeople.com. Learn more about your ad choices. ...
Oct 15, 2024•15 min•Ep. 160
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality test is used by many organizations and consultants, but it's been criticized by many as pseudo-science that's unhelpful, and even harmful. I talk to Randy Stein, who has researched the Myers Briggs and personality tests in general. Topics discussed include: the reasons people object to the Myers Briggs test; the downsides of personality tests that group people into boxes (as opposed to using a spectrum-like approach); the Forer effect, where peo...
Oct 08, 2024•43 min•Ep. 159
This episode includes part of a poker tells webinar that I, Zach Elwood, did with Terry Wood, owner of PokerRailbird.com. I'm the author of three respected books on poker tells, including Exploiting Poker Tells and Verbal Poker Tells. My first book, Reading Poker Tells, has been translated into eight languages. You can learn more about my poker tells work at readingpokertells.com. Topics discussed: two important categories of poker tells; some specific examples of poker tells (including eye cont...
Oct 01, 2024•33 min•Ep. 158
This is my third episode about Chase Hughes, the self-titled “#1 expert in behavior and influence.” My first episode about him examined his early deceptions and exaggerations, and his involvement in pick-up artistry and vitamin supplement sales. In this one, I talk about how Chase’s work relates to Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and NLP-related hypnosis. Long story short: Chase has used the NLP trainer template but repackaged it with a military/secret-agent/MK-Ultra-type spin. I examine the ...
Sep 26, 2024•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 157
Many surveys and headlines have claimed there's a large percentage of Americans who support political violence. Some estimates have been around 25% – and some have gone as high as 40%! This is very scary; it ramps up fears of a violent and chaotic American future, and even fears of a civil war. But political polarization researchers like my guest Sean Westwood have shown that many people are massively overstating the problem. And that overstatement is leading to hysterical and unhelpful framings...
Sep 16, 2024•39 min•Ep. 156
This is a follow up to my last episode, in which I shared information about the many lies of Chase Hughes, the self-described “#1 expert in behavior and influence.” Some of the fans of Chase Hughes and the show he’s on, The Behavior Panel, responded in angry, unreasonable ways, personally insulting me and downplaying the significance of Chase’s many deceptions. Some of the people who responded in these ways, from what I’ve been told, are also social media content moderators who work for Chase Hu...
Sep 09, 2024•29 min•Ep. 155
An examination of the deceptive and strange background of Chase Hughes, who refers to himself as the “#1 expert in behavior and influence.” A popular YouTube show that he’s on, the Behavioral Panel, gets millions of views. Dr. Phil has called him the “best on the globe.” But Chase’s career is built on a foundation of lies and exaggerations — not only in the behavior and psychology space, but also in other pursuits, including pick-up artistry and vitamin supplements. He has made many grandiose cl...
Sep 02, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 154
I talk to a professional astrologist named Ophira Edut. I myself don't believe in astrology but I was interested in asking her questions I've wanted to ask about astrology, and about belief in astrology. Topics include: why she believes in astrology, how her beliefs in that relate to other beliefs (like Reiki or other metaphysical ideas), people's negative views about astrology (including the view that people promoting astrology are doing harm); the importance of engaging respectfully with peopl...
Aug 26, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 153
I talk again about fake behavior expert Jack Brown, whose pseudoscientific behavior analysis work I devoted a past episode to. Brown got some recent attention in a Raw Story article for an analysis he wrote about how Trump's body language at a press conference showed that Trump was lying. Topics discussed include: the silliness of Brown's work and why it's silly; tips for recognizing fake behavior experts; how this stuff connects to toxic political polarization; a reading of Brown's recent analy...
Aug 19, 2024•19 min•Ep. 152
Apologies for the sad clickbait-y title. I'll be okay. I was trying to be a little funny. This is just some updates on things I've been working on and how you might help me if you'd like to do so. Or apart from helping me, you might like learning some details about how my books and podcast have been doing. Learn more about the show and get transcripts at behavior-podcast.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 13, 2024•8 min•Ep. 151
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...
Aug 05, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 150
Media bias specialist Vanessa Otero, founder of Ad Fontes Media, talks to me (Zach Elwood) about my books aimed at reducing toxic political polarization in America. Topics discussed include: common objections to and skepticism about this work (for example, views that those working on depolarization are "helping the bad guys"; why overcoming objections is so important; how conflict makes people behave in ways that amplify the toxicity of the conflict (often without knowing it); our distorted view...
Jul 31, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 149
