Leslie Poston
Appears in 118 Episodes
Why We Keep Falling For Moral Panics
Moral Panics as Effort Shields: Why Outrage Replaces ActionWhy do we grab onto moral panics so eagerly, and then quietly drop them the moment they stop being convenien...
Why We Reject New Evidence That Could Directly Help Us: The Semmelweis Effect
The Semmelweis Effect, COVID Cognitive Decline, and Why Evidence Struggles to SpreadHost Leslie Poston explains the Semmelweis effect (reflexively rejecting strong evi...
The Age of Uncertainty: What Workplace Instablity is Doing to Your Brain
Sustained Uncertainty at Work: Why It Hurts Your Brain and What HelpsHost Leslie Poston discusses sustained workplace uncertainty and its psychological effects, citing...
Sounds Deep, Says Nothing: The Science of Bullshit Receptivity
Bullshit Receptivity: Why We Trust the Wrong WordsHost Leslie Poston discusses “bullshit receptivity,” a peer-reviewed construct describing susceptibility to impressiv...
The Credibility Trap: Why We Trust Confident Wrongness
The Credibility Trap: Why Confidence Beats CorrectnessHost 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 ExampleHost Leslie Poston explains that no one is immune to propaganda, using her own initi...
Moral Licensing: How Doing Good Gives People Permission to Be Worse
Moral Licensing: Why Doing Good Can Make Us Behave WorseHost Leslie Poston explains the phenomenon of moral licensing: after people do something that affirms their ide...
The Death of Serendipity: What Algorithmic Personalization Is Doing to Your Mind
The Cost of Losing Serendipity in Algorithmic DiscoveryHost 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 ViolenceHost Leslie Poston discusses a CNN investigation into an “online rape academy,” in...
When TV Makes Harm Look Normal: Why We Keep Watching
The Ethics of Reality TV: Deception, Conflict, and What We NormalizeHost 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 MeaningHost Leslie Poston explains how “AI slop” is industrial-scale synthetic content optimized for vol...
Meta Lost. Now What?
Meta Verdicts, Kids’ Harm, and the Push for Age VerificationHost Leslie Poston reviews two jury verdicts finding Meta liable for harming children: a New Mexico case or...
The 100% Myth: Why Giving Everything Is Costing You Everything
Why “Give 100%” Is Corrosive: Sustainable Performance, Burnout, and Reserve CapacityHost Leslie Poston examines the phrase “give 100%” in American work culture, tracin...
Why Common Sense Isn't Common
Common Sense or Power Move? The One Question That Reveals the DifferenceHost Leslie Poston argues that “common sense” is often used to end conversations and universali...
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 LL...
Forever Wars Shrink the Future: What Endless War Does to the Human Mind
Forever War and the Stolen FutureHost Leslie Poston examines a hidden psychological cost of “forever wars”: they don’t just create fear and grief, they change how peop...
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 AwayHost Leslie Poston discusses the psychological impact of seeing the names of ...
Courage is Contagious: The Psychology of Collective Efficacy
Sustained Resistance: How Communities Keep Showing Up Under RepressionHost Leslie Poston closes PsyberSpace’s three-part series on American authoritarianism by focusin...
The War on What You Saw: The Psychology of Gaslighting at Scale
The Power and Purpose of Obvious Lies in Authoritarian RegimesIn this episode of PsyberSpace®, host Leslie Poston explores why authoritarian regimes tell obvious lies ...
When They Come For You: The Psychology of Expanding Violence
Understanding American Authoritarianism Short Series Part 1 of 3: Expansion of State ViolenceIn the first part of a special three-episode series on PsyberSpace®, host ...