Leslie Poston
Appears in 132 Episodes
Make Yourself Useful: The Psychology of the Founder Reflex
The Founder Reflex: Why White Progressive Spaces Reward Starting Over Supporting Why do white women in progressive spaces so often start something new instead of join...
Training Grounds: The Rapist Pipeline
The Cornell Seven, Frat Chats, and the Rape Pipeline: How Institutions Protect Men Who Harm Women Dr. Leslie Poston returns from a two-week break to work through the ...
The One Person Problem: Why We Blame Villains and Wait for Heroes Instead of Fixing Systems
Beyond Blame and Savior: Why Systems, Not Individuals, Drive Outcomes When something goes wrong, we look for the person who caused it. When we want something fixed, we...
Wired for War: The Psychology of Leaders Who Choose Conflict
War, Power, and the Psychology of Leaders: Dark Traits, Moral Disengagement, and AI-Driven Distance Dr. Leslie Poston argues that war is a predictable failure of leade...
Fear, Politics, and Getting the Science Right: Terror Management Theory Revisited
Terror Management Theory, Replication, and How Science Updates What We Think We Know Dr. Leslie Poston discusses Terror Management Theory (TMT) as a framework for unde...
The Personality Test Industrial Complex: The MBTI Problem
Why MBTI Took Over Corporate Culture Despite Weak Science, and What to Use Instead Dr. Leslie Poston traces how the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator became a multi-million-...
Why You're Stuck: The Stories We Tell Ourselves
Why Some People Bounce Back: Narrative Identity, Redemption Stories, and Getting Unstuck PARTICIPATE IN MY POST DOC RESEARCH! CLICK HERE. Dr. Leslie Poston explains th...
Specimen in a Petri Dish Part Two: Body Control as Political Power
Body Policing as Authoritarian Power: From Fascist Propaganda to TikTok Pipelines In Part One, we asked who gets to decide what a woman's body should look like. In Par...
Specimen in a Petri Dish: The Psychology of Public Body Policing
Why Society Feels Entitled to Comment on Women’s Bodies, and the Harm It Causes Jenna Ortega sat down to talk about her career. Within a day, the internet was only tal...
Be Cringe, Be Free: The Psychology of Refusing to Perform
Be Cringe, Be Free: Authenticity, Shame, and the Cost of Performing the Self "Be cringe, be free" sounds like a joke about dancing badly in public. Dr. Leslie Poston m...
Gotcha Culture: Why Catching an AI Cheater Feels So Good
The Psychology Behind AI Call-Outs and False Certainty Dr. Leslie Poston examines why people react with such gleeful certainty when an AI detector flags someone's writ...
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...