All Episodes
Displaying 1 - 20 of 122 in total
Coded to Exhaustion: The Hidden Cost of Outsmarting the Algorithm
Algospeak and the Cost of Speaking Under Algorithmic Suppression When millions of creators have to say 'unalive' instead of suicide and use a grape emoji instead of ta...
What We Lose When Knowledge Has to Pay Rent
Education’s Value Beyond Jobs: Critical Thinking, Humanities, and the Real Jobs Crisis Host Dr. Leslie Poston argues that education’s value is not defined by whether i...
Love Languages Were Never Scientific
Why Love Languages Went Viral Without the Science to Support Them Millions of people can name their love language. Almost none of them know the man who invented the c...
Why We Keep Falling For Moral Panics
Moral Panics as Effort Shields: Why Outrage Replaces Action Why do we grab onto moral panics so eagerly, and then quietly drop them the moment they stop being convenie...
Why We Reject New Evidence That Could Directly Help Us: The Semmelweis Effect
The Semmelweis Effect, COVID Cognitive Decline, and Why Evidence Struggles to Spread Host Leslie Poston explains the Semmelweis effect (reflexively rejecting strong ev...
The Age of Uncertainty: What Workplace Instablity is Doing to Your Brain
Sustained Uncertainty at Work: Why It Hurts Your Brain and What Helps Host Leslie Poston discusses sustained workplace uncertainty and its psychological effects, citin...
Sounds Deep, Says Nothing: The Science of Bullshit Receptivity
Bullshit Receptivity: Why We Trust the Wrong Words Host Leslie Poston discusses “bullshit receptivity,” a peer-reviewed construct describing susceptibility to impressi...
The Credibility Trap: Why We Trust Confident Wrongness
The Credibility Trap: Why Confidence Beats Correctness Host Leslie Poston is back after a hiatus to move PsyberSpace to a new weekly Thursday schedule and explains why...
Propaganda: Nobody's Immune
How Propaganda Uses Your Values Against Your Brain: The Passport Revocation Example Host Leslie Poston explains that no one is immune to propaganda, using her own init...
Moral Licensing: How Doing Good Gives People Permission to Be Worse
Moral Licensing: Why Doing Good Can Make Us Behave Worse Host Leslie Poston explains the phenomenon of moral licensing: after people do something that affirms their id...
The Death of Serendipity: What Algorithmic Personalization Is Doing to Your Mind
The Cost of Losing Serendipity in Algorithmic Discovery Host Leslie Poston discusses how algorithmic recommendation systems have replaced everyday accidental discovery...
From the Rape Academy to Your Living Room
Semantic Derailment and the Social Permission That Sustains Organized Sexual Violence Host Leslie Poston discusses a CNN investigation into an “online rape academy,” i...
When TV Makes Harm Look Normal: Why We Keep Watching
The Ethics of Reality TV: Deception, Conflict, and What We Normalize Host Leslie Poston examines the ethical and psychological costs of reality and reality-adjacent TV...
The Psychology of AI Slop: How Synthetic Junk Erodes Attention, Trust, and Meaning
AI Slop and Your Brain: Attention, Fatigue, and the Erosion of Meaning Host Leslie Poston explains how “AI slop” is industrial-scale synthetic content optimized for vo...
Meta Lost. Now What?
Meta Verdicts, Kids’ Harm, and the Push for Age Verification Host Leslie Poston reviews two jury verdicts finding Meta liable for harming children: a New Mexico case o...
The 100% Myth: Why Giving Everything Is Costing You Everything
Why “Give 100%” Is Corrosive: Sustainable Performance, Burnout, and Reserve Capacity Host Leslie Poston examines the phrase “give 100%” in American work culture, trac...
Why Common Sense Isn't Common
Common Sense or Power Move? The One Question That Reveals the Difference Host Leslie Poston argues that “common sense” is often used to end conversations and universal...
Your AI Best Friend Is Lying To You
When AI Becomes a Confidant: Loneliness, Engagement Incentives, and the Risks of Chatbot “Support” Host Leslie Poston examines why so many adults and teens are using L...
Forever Wars Shrink the Future: What Endless War Does to the Human Mind
Forever War and the Stolen Future Host Leslie Poston examines a hidden psychological cost of “forever wars”: they don’t just create fear and grief, they change how peo...
What the Epstein Network Tells Us About Power, Complicity, and the Psychology of Betrayal
Losing Our Heroes: The Epstein Files, Elite Complicity, and the Psychology of Looking Away Host Leslie Poston discusses the psychological impact of seeing the names of...