Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast PsyberSpace® - we help you understand your world
| Titre | Date | Durée | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Make Yourself Useful: The Psychology of the Founder Reflex | 30 oct. 2026 | 00:23:51 | |
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 joining what people of color have already built? Dr. Leslie Poston examines the “founder reflex” and the psychology that keeps it running: the redemptive self, psychological ownership, communal narcissism, and a reward structure that pays better for visibility than for usefulness. She looks at what gets lost when founding wins by default, from duplicated initiatives to the quieter costs borne by the people already doing the work. Along the way: elite capture, the nonprofit industrial complex, white ignorance as a motivated stance, and what engaged followership actually asks of someone who wants to help. If you’ve ever wondered whether the thing you’re about to launch already exists, this one is for you. 00:00 Founder Reflex Defined | |||
| Training Grounds: The Rapist Pipeline | 16 oct. 2026 | 00:37:30 | |
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 Cornell Seven case and what it tells us about how institutions handle men who harm women. The episode opens with the facts of the 101-page lawsuit filed September 14, including the Snapchat chat that advertised the assault to the rest of the fraternity, and traces what Cornell did and didn’t do in the two years before the story broke nationally. From there, Leslie turns to LSU, Temple, the University of Chicago, and the research on why these cases keep producing the same outcomes. She covers rape myths, DARVO, himpathy, and the recent retaliation against Jane Doe. The episode closes on the question the research actually leaves us with, which isn’t the one most of the coverage is asking. 00:00 Why The Break | |||
| The One Person Problem: Why We Blame Villains and Wait for Heroes Instead of Fixing Systems | 25 sept. 2026 | 00:24:37 | |
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 look for the person who can save us. Host Dr. Leslie Poston breaks down why both of those instincts are the same cognitive shortcut, what they protect us from seeing, and how superhero narratives, religious traditions, and political campaigns all reinforce the pattern. She pulls examples from Trump, Obama, Dolly Parton, Mamdani, and corporate scandal culture to show how the same psychology operates across the political spectrum. 00:00 Blame And Hope Pattern | |||
| Wired for War: The Psychology of Leaders Who Choose Conflict | 17 sept. 2026 | 00:25:12 | |
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 leadership selection: the traits that help people gain power, Dark Triad and Tetrad traits like narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and sadism, are the same traits that make leaders dangerous when it comes to decisions about conflict. She traces this pattern through current wars including the US-Iran strikes, Sudan, Myanmar, Ukraine, and Afghanistan-Pakistan. The episode explores how Bandura's moral disengagement operates in modern warfare, how technologies like autonomous weapons and AI targeting systems are widening the accountability gap between leaders and consequences, and why violence is cognitively simpler than peace. She draws a structural parallel between military and corporate leadership failures, particularly in the AI industry's treatment of creative workers, and closes with research-backed interventions for changing who ends up in positions of power and what they bring with them. 00:00 Why Leaders Start Wars | |||
| Fear, Politics, and Getting the Science Right: Terror Management Theory Revisited | 11 sept. 2026 | 00:19:18 | |
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 understanding how death anxiety shapes social and political behavior, and uses it to illustrate how science updates its conclusions as evidence changes. She contrasts open replication with cases like Dan Ariely's retracted work. She traces TMT from Ernest Becker's The Denial of Death to early experiments showing harsher punishment after mortality reminders, explains the anxiety buffer (worldview, self-esteem, relationships) and proximal vs. distal defenses, and reviews findings linking mortality salience to prejudice, nationalism, consumerism, and support for confident leaders. She then covers replication challenges, including Many Labs 4, competing re-analyses, independent failed replications, and a major meta-analysis showing publication bias likely inflated the effect. Alongside TMT, she reviews neuroscience and physiology research on threat sensitivity and political ideology, which shows smaller but consistent associations. The episode connects constant ambient threat in modern media and authoritarian rhetoric to these dynamics and discusses buffering strategies like bolstering self-esteem, relationships, shared humanity, and recognizing fear priming. 00:00 Welcome and TMT Introduction | |||
| The Personality Test Industrial Complex: The MBTI Problem | 04 sept. 2026 | 00:23:04 | |
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-dollar corporate fixture despite decades of research challenging its psychometric quality, from Katharine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers' Jung-inspired typology to its commercialization by the Myers-Briggs Company. The episode outlines core problems with the MBTI, including poor test-retest reliability, arbitrary binary categorization despite normally distributed traits, and weak predictive validity for workplace outcomes. Poston covers why it still feels accurate through the Barnum/Forer effect, motivated reasoning, preference for simple categories, and social identity dynamics reinforced by online communities and corporate incentives. She contrasts the MBTI with evidence-based personality science such as the Big Five and HEXACO, notes the growing commercial availability of validated tools, and examines why the MBTI persists through ease of use, positivity, institutional inertia, and cultural saturation. 00:00 MBTI Everywhere | |||
| Why You're Stuck: The Stories We Tell Ourselves | 27 août 2026 | 00:22:23 | |
Why Some People Bounce Back: Narrative Identity, Redemption Stories, and Getting Unstuck PARTICIPATE IN MY POST DOC RESEARCH! CLICK HERE. Dr. Leslie Poston explains that resilience after hard experiences often depends less on toughness or event severity and more on the narrative people construct about what happened. Drawing on 30+ years of narrative identity research from researchers like Dan McAdams, she contrasts “redemption sequences” (negative-to-positive meaning) with “contamination sequences” (positive overtaken by negative), noting links to well-being and depression. She cites evidence that narrative is an active ingredient: long-term sobriety predicts redemption framing of the last drink, increases in narrative agency precede mental health gains in therapy, and expressive writing improves outcomes when it creates coherent story structure. She discusses developmental roots in parent-child elaborative reminiscing, the risk of event centrality in PTSD/CPTSD and collective trauma (e.g., post-9/11 America), and how cultural “master narratives” shape which stories feel possible, with cross-cultural differences. Practical takeaways include therapy, structured writing, supportive listening, and reframing adversity as a chapter, plus a note about upcoming paid courses and no ads. SIGN UP FOR PSYBERSPACE® COURSE LAUNCH HERE 00:00 Why We Get Stuck | |||
| Specimen in a Petri Dish Part Two: Body Control as Political Power | 21 août 2026 | 00:22:50 | |
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 Part Two, Dr. Leslie Poston follows that question into political history, tracing a line from Mussolini's propaganda offices to the fashion industry to TikTok's algorithm. The distance between fascist body archetypes and a teenage girl's feed in 2026 is shorter than you'd think. Drawing on the work of Sabrina Strings, Da'Shaun Harrison, and Lois Shearing, this episode examines how and why body control has functioned as a tool of authoritarian power, and what makes it so effective at recruiting women and girls today. PARTICIPATE IN MY POST DOC RESEARCH! CLICK HERE. 00:00 Part Two Setup | |||
| Specimen in a Petri Dish: The Psychology of Public Body Policing | 14 août 2026 | 00:21:15 | |
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 talking about her body. Dr. Leslie Poston traces this pattern across decades of public scrutiny aimed at women in the spotlight, examines the psychology behind why people feel entitled to comment on women's bodies at all, and looks at what the research says those comments actually do. Part one of a two-part series. 00:00 Welcome and Setup For those who asked about reading my dissertation, I made it open access for you. ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| Be Cringe, Be Free: The Psychology of Refusing to Perform | 06 août 2026 | 00:15:39 | |
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 makes the case that it's actually a question psychology has been thinking about for decades: why does being yourself in public feel so dangerous, and can dropping the performance actually change anything beyond your own life? This episode draws on Goffman's front stage and back stage selves, Winnicott's true self and false self, Brehm's reactance theory, Gilbert's social rank theory, Tangney's research on shame and guilt, Gilovich's spotlight effect, Meyer's minority stress theory, Keltner's work on embarrassment, and Deci, Ryan, and Neff on autonomy and self-compassion, to ask what it actually costs to keep performing, and what it takes to stop. 00:00 Be Cringe Be Free LINK TO PARTICIPATE IN DR. POSTON'S NEXT RESEARCH STUDY: https://bit.ly/4fCx52d (linked form will deactivate when study is full) ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| Gotcha Culture: Why Catching an AI Cheater Feels So Good | 30 juil. 2026 | 00:17:17 | |
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 writing, even though these tools are wrong often enough to falsely implicate one in five students in a single class. The satisfaction people feel rarely tracks whether the accusation is true. It tracks something else entirely, and this episode breaks down five distinct psychological motives hiding underneath that feeling, from protecting a shaky self-image to genuine hypocrisy to anger that belongs somewhere else altogether. Along the way: why detectors fail the way they do, what several centuries of public exposure rituals have in common with a modern callout post, and how to catch yourself doing this before you hit send. 00:00 Why AI Callouts Feel Good | |||
| Coded to Exhaustion: The Hidden Cost of Outsmarting the Algorithm | 23 juil. 2026 | 00:20:57 | |
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 talking about rape, something has gone wrong. In this episode, Dr. Leslie Poston discusses her dissertation research on the psychological impact of algospeak, the deliberate language modifications social media creators use to evade algorithmic content moderation, where those strategies actually come from, what happens when they spread, and what it costs the people who need them most. Portions of this research are currently being prepared for peer-reviewed journal publication. Poston, L.E. (2026) Speaking at a Cost: Algorithmic Suppression, Appropriated Resistance, and the Psychological Burden of Linguistic Evasion on Social Media (Dissertation) Fielding Graduate University. 00:00 Welcome and Setup Note: had some trouble with the audio leveling this week on a word or two, if I have time I'll re-record and replace those segments this weekend. ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| What We Lose When Knowledge Has to Pay Rent | 16 juil. 2026 | 00:17:16 | |
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 it leads directly to a job, criticizing the “elite overproduction” framing that treats employment outcomes as the only metric and shift systemic economic failures onto individuals. She emphasizes that a good education builds durable capacities like critical thinking, tolerance for ambiguity, and empathy (traits tied to better judgment in civic life, relationships, and work) supported by research on intrinsic motivation, liberal arts outcomes, and longitudinal gains in reflective learning and need for cognition. In medicine, humanities-linked interventions measurably improve empathy and uncertainty tolerance, reducing unnecessary tests and stress. She cites evidence that employers inflated degree requirements as a screening filter, worsening credential gaps, and explains cultural bias toward individual-blame narratives. She concludes that labor-market reform and valuing knowledge should be treated as separate fixes. 00:00 Education Beyond Jobs | |||
| Love Languages Were Never Scientific | 10 juil. 2026 | 00:19:13 | |
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 concept wasn't a psychologist, never ran a study, and built the whole thing from his own irritation with how his wife loaded the dishwasher. Host Leslie Poston traces "The Five Love Languages" back to its actual origins, checks Gary Chapman's core claims against three decades of relationship research, and asks a harder question: who benefits when a framework this thin gets treated as settled science, and who ends up doing the work of proving it. 00:00 Love Languages Phenomenon **Note: We had some technical difficulties during recording this week. If there is a problem with your audio, please let us know** ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| Why We Keep Falling For Moral Panics | 02 juil. 2026 | 00:19:26 | |
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 convenient? In this episode, host Leslie Poston, Ph.D., introduces the concept of the 'effort shield' and argues that moral panics serve a psychological function most people never examine. Drawing on Stanley Cohen's foundational work, system justification theory, and the Semmelweis effect, she walks through four case studies spanning technology and policy to show how the pattern repeats, who profits from it, and what it costs us. If you've ever wondered why the same cycle of outrage keeps happening without anything actually changing, this one's for you. 00:00 Stranger Danger to Uber | |||
| Why We Reject New Evidence That Could Directly Help Us: The Semmelweis Effect | 25 juin 2026 | 00:19:31 | |
The Semmelweis Effect, COVID Cognitive Decline, and Why Evidence Struggles to Spread Host Leslie Poston explains the Semmelweis effect (reflexively rejecting strong evidence because it threatens identity or established norms) through Ignaz Semmelweis’ 1840s discovery that chlorinated handwashing slashed childbed-fever deaths, despite fierce professional backlash and decades-long delay before adoption. She distinguishes the effect from confirmation bias and links it to cognitive dissonance, status quo bias, and identity-protective cognition. The episode then connects this pattern to research showing COVID-19 infection is associated with measurable, cumulative cognitive deficits (memory, reasoning, executive function), limited protection from vaccination, and brain changes, with reinfection worsening decline and older or severe cases at higher risk. Poston argues these impairments may reduce society’s ability to update beliefs, compounding the typical 17-year medical translation gap and polarized trust in science, and suggests bias awareness, infection prevention, living guidelines, better evidence infrastructure, and transparent communication. 00:00 Semmelweis Effect Intro | |||
| The Age of Uncertainty: What Workplace Instablity is Doing to Your Brain | 18 juin 2026 | 00:15:58 | |
Sustained Uncertainty at Work: Why It Hurts Your Brain and What Helps Host Leslie Poston discusses sustained workplace uncertainty and its psychological effects, citing an APA Monitor on Psychology article and survey data showing widespread job insecurity, low engagement, and feelings of being replaceable or invisible—especially among workers under 25. She explains research finding peak stress at maximum uncertainty and connects it to ongoing “maybe” conditions created by economic instability, policy shifts, AI restructuring, and layoffs at profitable companies, which sever the link between effort and security and contribute to survivor syndrome, reduced collaboration, and morale gaps between HR and executives. Declining trust and weak communication—highlighted by Edelman and Gallup findings—intensify uncertainty, while workplace ostracism can activate pain-related brain regions and disproportionately affects women of color. She offers limits-aware coping ideas: reduce self-blame, assess whether uncertainty is temporary or permanent, diversify identity beyond work, and evaluate whether leadership will tell the truth. 00:00 Welcome and Setup | |||
| Sounds Deep, Says Nothing: The Science of Bullshit Receptivity | 11 juin 2026 | 00:15:11 | |
Bullshit Receptivity: Why We Trust the Wrong Words Host Leslie Poston discusses “bullshit receptivity,” a peer-reviewed construct describing susceptibility to impressive-sounding but meaningless language. She highlights Cornell cognitive psychologist Shane Littrell’s studies in which over 1,000 office workers rated AI-generated corporate jargon alongside real executive quotes; those most impressed scored lowest on analytic thinking and workplace decision-making, and were more likely to amplify jargon in a feedback loop that rewards BS-producing leaders. Poston connects this to earlier work by Gordon Pennycook (University of Waterloo) on pseudo-profound statements and cognitive defaults like initial acceptance and weak conflict monitoring, and to research linking BS receptivity with overclaiming, poor metacognition, fake news vulnerability (Pennycook and Rand), political slogans, and “scientific” BS. She notes Brandolini’s Law and emphasizes practicing analytic thinking, including restating claims in plain language, citing the University of Washington’s “Calling Bullshit” course and mentioning future coverage of pre-bunking. 00:00 Welcome and Setup The studies referenced: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886926000620 UPDATED with notes from the study author: (Note: I love it when an author adds nuance! We lead with curiosity here and we know 15 - 25 minute episodic summaries can potentially overly-condense a topic.) Replying to the LinkedIn post about this, Dr. Littrell said: "Re: "The findings are consistent across every domain: the strongest predictor of whether someone catches BS is whether they engage analytic thinking or "go with their gut"." There's a bit more to it than that. People can fall for BS through either mode of thinking (more "reflective" and more "intuitive"): https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13546783.2023.2189163 More detailed discussion here, for anyone interested: https://bullshitology.substack.com/p/brown-pilled-why-we-fall-for-bullshit" ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| The Credibility Trap: Why We Trust Confident Wrongness | 05 juin 2026 | 00:18:32 | |
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 people often trust confident speakers over accurate ones, calling it the “credibility trap.” She outlines the confidence heuristic (certainty feels like evidence), why it works through verbal cues across all media, and how Dunning-Kruger dynamics and overclaiming research show that learning a little can increase false recognition and perceived expertise, a risk she notes may worsen with increased LLM use. She adds the authority heuristic, where credentials or platforms suppress scrutiny, and describes harms when confidently wrong figures are amplified, including in public health and policy. Research on “bullshit receptivity” and overconfidence in news judgment shows some people are especially vulnerable and unaware. She argues honest expertise sounds uncertain due to scientific qualifiers, which media incentives punish, and offers habits to resist: treat uncertainty as a knowledge signal, watch for broad undifferentiated certainty, separate authority from accuracy, and question one’s own discernment. 00:00 Welcome Back Update | |||
| Propaganda: Nobody's Immune | 11 mai 2026 | 00:12:55 | |
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 initial approval of a proposal to revoke passports for unpaid child support as an example of how emotional framing can short-circuit deeper thinking. She argues effective propaganda relies on a grain of truth and an emotional trigger, using agenda-setting to shape what people think about and how, and distinguishes agitation propaganda (fast, gut-response) from integration propaganda (slow, worldview-shaping). She describes how moral conviction, motivated reasoning, and cognitive fluency can recruit analytical skill to defend prior conclusions, making simple frames feel both right and true. She warns that vague mechanisms attached to sympathetic victims can expand beyond intent, citing civil asset forfeiture and welfare fraud provisions, and offers habits: slow down on strong emotions, ask who’s missing from the frame, examine the mechanism and recourse, reject forced binaries, and note topics where scrutiny feels disloyal. 00:00 No One Is Immune | |||
| Moral Licensing: How Doing Good Gives People Permission to Be Worse | 04 mai 2026 | 00:12:01 | |
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 identity as a good person, the brain registers progress toward a moral goal, reducing self-regulatory effort and making later unethical choices more likely, sometimes in unrelated domains. Using a fitness “daily budget” analogy, the episode describes evidence from environmental psychology (green purchases followed by increased lying and cheating), research on racial bias (publicly demonstrating egalitarian credentials followed by more biased choices), activism (low-cost visible actions reducing motivation for harder follow-through), and organizational contexts (leaders with strong ethical self-identities engaging in minor violations because identity buffers self-concept). Poston emphasizes the effect is unconscious, doesn’t require bad intentions, and calls for attention to the misleading feeling of having “done your part.” 00:00 Welcome and Topic Setup | |||
| The Death of Serendipity: What Algorithmic Personalization Is Doing to Your Mind | 27 avr. 2026 | 00:19:30 | |
The Cost of Losing Serendipity in Algorithmic Discovery Host Leslie Poston discusses how algorithmic recommendation systems have replaced everyday accidental discovery, reducing serendipity and narrowing what people encounter. The episode explains psychological and neuroscience research showing novelty’s role in motivation, attention, learning, and memory (including locus coeruleus activation), the inverted-U relationship between complexity and curiosity, and how habituation can flatten engagement when stimuli stay too familiar. Poston contrasts this with the mere exposure effect (Zajonc) and processing fluency, arguing platforms reinforce and shape preferences through repeated exposure, producing “adjacent novelty” rather than true surprise. She links personalization to self-concept via the looking-glass self and self-perception theory, describing identity-shaping pipelines, and argues personalization reduces shared cultural overlap, contributing to epistemological fragmentation. Practical suggestions include turning off autoplay, browsing physical spaces, reading outside one’s interests, and holding preferences lightly to preserve room for the unexpected. VOTE HERE UNTIL APRIL 30th! We're nominated for a Women in Podcasting Award! 00:00 Welcome and Setup | |||
| From the Rape Academy to Your Living Room | 20 avr. 2026 | 00:14:03 | |
Semantic Derailment and the Social Permission That Sustains Organized Sexual Violence Host Leslie Poston discusses a CNN investigation into an “online rape academy,” including a Telegram group called ZZZ where nearly 1,000 men allegedly coordinated drugging and sexual assault, shared footage, discussed substances and dosages, and advertised paid live streams; while ZZZ was taken down, the U.S.-hosted site Motherless remains public, drawing about 62 million visits in February and hosting 20,000+ videos tagged with phrases like “passed out” and “eyecheck.” Poston connects this to the Dominique Pelicot case and argues the network has migrated and grown, including related misogynistic trends on TikTok. She critiques the male-dominated focus on disputing the “62 million” figure as moral disengagement and “semantic derailment,” linking it to betrayal trauma, social invalidation, and women’s hypervigilance. Poston argues these reactions provide social permission that enables perpetrators and calls for sustained engagement and pressure so “shame must change sides.” 00:00 Welcome to PsyberSpace | |||
| When TV Makes Harm Look Normal: Why We Keep Watching | 13 avr. 2026 | 00:18:17 | |
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 that relies on deception or engineered conflict, arguing the key issue is whether harm is built into a show’s format rather than whether it is scripted. Using Jury Duty as an example of compromised informed consent and Survivor as an example of formats that reward manipulation, humiliation, and betrayal, she asks what it does to participants and to audiences when cruelty is reframed as “gameplay.” She discusses contestant harms (disorientation, stress, surveillance, reputational damage through editing, and minimal compensation) and viewer effects (social learning, desensitization, parasocial attachment, and moral distancing). She contrasts Squid Game as an explicit critique of exploitation and argues profit, contracts, and aftercare do not equal ethical permission, calling for standards centered on consent, dignity, and psychological safety. 00:00 Reality TV Ethics | |||
| The Psychology of AI Slop: How Synthetic Junk Erodes Attention, Trust, and Meaning | 06 avr. 2026 | 00:18:57 | |
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 volume and fast reactions rather than accuracy or usefulness, ranging from keyword-stuffed articles and fake reviews to fabricated quotes, fake images, and targeted deepfake audio/video. She argues it exploits cognitive shortcuts like attentional capture and processing fluency, creating decision fatigue, weakening deliberate “system two” thinking, and making it harder to suppress irrelevant junk. Repetition fuels the illusory truth effect, increasing perceived accuracy even with fact-check labels and eroding a shared factual baseline. Platforms’ variable-ratio, slot-machine-like feeds reward engagement regardless of truth, selecting for reaction-triggering slop and crowding out careful human work, with documented economic harms to creators and a sense of hollowness or “existential vacuum” for audiences. Poston recommends protecting cognitive resources by spending less time in algorithmic feeds, curating sources, seeking deeper work, and notes a Wharton paper on “cognitive surrender,” plus her 2026 Women in Podcasting nomination. 00:00 What AI Slop Looks Like Wharton Paper on Cognitive Surrender ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| Meta Lost. Now What? | 29 mars 2026 | 00:13:03 | |
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 ordering $375 million in civil penalties for concealing knowledge about child sexual exploitation and mental health impacts, and a Los Angeles negligence case where Meta and YouTube were found liable and Kaylee was awarded $6 million for worsened anxiety and depression from compulsive use starting at ages 6 and 9. Poston cites internal Meta research (Project Myst) and communications likening effects to drugs and gambling, arguing the fine is negligible versus Meta’s $201B revenue. She critiques rapid policy pivots to age verification and digital ID laws, describing requirements like government ID uploads and biometrics via third parties as surveillance, easily bypassed with VPNs, and harmful to those needing anonymity. She notes Meta’s lobbying and covert funding for age-verification groups, and offers questions about beneficiaries, fit to harm, psychology of surveillance, non-technological causes, exposure, and real accountability. 00:00 Welcome and Overview | |||
| The 100% Myth: Why Giving Everything Is Costing You Everything | 23 mars 2026 | 00:23:21 | |
Why “Give 100%” Is Corrosive: Sustainable Performance, Burnout, and Reserve Capacity 00:00 Why Give 100% | |||
| Why Common Sense Isn't Common | 16 mars 2026 | 00:24:13 | |
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 universalize one person’s perception rather than provide evidence. She explains this through naïve realism (people experience their perceptions as objective reality), embodied cognition (gut intuitions shaped by bodily and lived experience), and positionality (social location shapes what becomes perceptually salient). She cites the “WEIRD” problem in psychology showing many supposedly universal findings don’t generalize across cultures, and connects “common sense” to Gramsci’s hegemony, where dominant-group assumptions become normalized as natural and inevitable. Without endorsing relativism, she notes motivated reasoning can make conclusions feel obvious before scrutiny. She closes with a practical test for sussing out “common sense” claims. 00:00 Common Sense Setup | |||
| Your AI Best Friend Is Lying To You | 09 mars 2026 | 00:22:15 | |
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 LLM chatbots like ChatGPT and Claude as friends, therapy substitutes, or romantic stand-ins, linking it to eroding community, expensive and inaccessible mental health care, and tech incentives optimized for engagement. Citing Meta’s engagement-driven practices and data harms as an example of industry patterns, she argues similar incentives shape AI “support” tools with little clinical oversight. She discusses attachment theory, parasocial dynamics, and research showing dependency trajectories and correlations between higher daily AI use and greater loneliness and reduced real-world socialization, with chatbots tending to validate rumination rather than promote reappraisal. She highlights lethal failure cases involving suicide encouragement and prolonged affirmation during crises, notes harms also affect adults, critiques child-focused age-verification bills as privacy-eroding surveillance, and points to targeted interventions (e.g., NY’s AI companion requirements) and clinicians asking about AI use, emphasizing real community connection as the root solution. 00:00 AI as Confidant | |||
| Forever Wars Shrink the Future: What Endless War Does to the Human Mind | 02 mars 2026 | 00:20:30 | |
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 people relate to time—shrinking hope, planning, and the ability to believe in tomorrow. She explains how chronic threat and recurring escalation can trap individuals and whole societies in emergency mode, erode trust in institutions, and create a sense of democratic powerlessness, citing January 2026 U.S. polling from Quinnipiac showing over 85% of voters opposed military action against Iran. The episode also explores how constant media exposure, moral implication in state violence, and the normalization of instability shape adults and children alike. Poston closes by arguing that resilience isn’t enough without public conditions that restore agency—real ceasefires, accountability, and functioning community supports that make a future feel livable again. 00:00 Welcome and Setup | |||
| What the Epstein Network Tells Us About Power, Complicity, and the Psychology of Betrayal | 23 févr. 2026 | 00:18:21 | |
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 people you once admired or trusted in the Epstein files. Poston examines why revelations connected to the Epstein files can feel psychologically destabilizing, especially when they involve admired public figures and trusted institutions. Drawing on research in power and social perception, implicit cognition, moral disengagement, parasocial relationships, and betrayal trauma, the episode explores how people and systems can minimize harm, avoid accountability, and sustain “looking away,” and discusses grief, anger, and disillusionment as part of responding clearly to what the files document. 00:00 Welcome + Content Warning: Losing Our Heroes in the Epstein Revelations | |||
| Courage is Contagious: The Psychology of Collective Efficacy | 16 févr. 2026 | 00:15:12 | |
Sustained Resistance: How Communities Keep Showing Up Under Repression Host Leslie Poston closes PsyberSpace’s three-part series on American authoritarianism by focusing on the psychology of sustained resistance. Drawing on findings that real-world bystander intervention occurs in most incidents, she distinguishes one-time helping from long-term collective action and uses Minneapolis as an example of ongoing community response to state violence. She reviews research suggesting risk can increase commitment when paired with anger at repression and a belief that participation matters, and argues effective resistance relies on pre-existing collective efficacy built through repeated small acts of trust and mutual aid. She references Havel’s idea of “living in truth,” where refusing to perform compliance with obvious lies creates a growing space where propaganda fails. Poston also outlines factors that sustain activism under repression: emotional solidarity, alternative information/documentation sources as “epistemic infrastructure,” tactical flexibility, and the belief that others share one’s perception of reality. She also discusses the danger of pluralistic ignorance and discusses Erica Chenoweth’s research on civil resistance, including the higher historical success of nonviolent movements and cautions about overinterpreting the 3.5% threshold and changing success rates in the 2010s. Poston emphasizes diverse roles and tactics (street protest, documentation, legal support, sanctuary, labor action, and local noncooperation) and ends with practical guidance: build community relationships before crisis, maintain reality-testing against gaslighting, and choose an appropriate role to make dissent visible. 00:00 Welcome Back + What This Finale Covers | |||
| The War on What You Saw: The Psychology of Gaslighting at Scale | 09 févr. 2026 | 00:16:03 | |
The Power and Purpose of Obvious Lies in Authoritarian Regimes In this episode of PsyberSpace®, host Leslie Poston explores why authoritarian regimes tell obvious lies that contradict available video evidence and their psychological impact on the public. The discussion digs into how such lies serve to dominate rather than persuade, sorting the population, degrading shared reality, and forcing individuals to either accept the lie, stay quiet, or openly reject it. The episode also touches on concepts like institutional gaslighting, epistemic violence, and moral injury, highlighting the social costs and potential resilience strategies against these tactics. The upcoming part three will focus on the psychology of resistance and collective action. 00:00 Introduction to Authoritarian Lies | |||
| When They Come For You: The Psychology of Expanding Violence | 02 févr. 2026 | 00:13:48 | |
Understanding American Authoritarianism Short Series Part 1 of 3: Expansion of State Violence In the first part of a special three-episode series on PsyberSpace®, host Leslie Poston examines the psychology of authoritarianism with a focus on the expansion of state violence in the United States. Highlighting the significance of understanding how psychological patterns predict such outcomes, Leslie discusses recent events involving federal immigration agents and names the victims to humanize the statistics. She delves into various research by black scholars and others on moral exclusion, implicit bias, police violence, and the mechanisms behind systematic racism. The episode underscores the importance of recognizing and acting against the contraction of the moral circle and prepares the audience for the next episode on the psychology of manufactured reality. 00:00 Introduction to American Authoritarianism Research will be added to PsyberSpace later this week ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| Your Data Is Already Breached: Why Age Verification Makes It Worse | 27 janv. 2026 | 00:17:56 | |
The Illusion of Digital Safety: How Age Gates and Digital IDs Miss the Mark In this episode of PsyberSpace, host Leslie Poston digs into the ineffectiveness and risks of age gates and digital ID verification systems aimed at protecting children online. Highlighting global legislative attempts and their unintended consequences, Poston argues that these measures often exacerbate digital risks while failing to address root causes such as inadequate parental capacity, literacy deficiencies, and systemic economic struggles. The episode challenges the moral panic around social media's impact on youth mental health, pointing out that true protection requires structural change rather than symbolic, ineffective solutions. 00:00 Introduction and Data Breach Experiment | |||
| Why Does Debating Bad Ideas Make Them Stronger? | 19 janv. 2026 | 00:19:44 | |
The Hidden Dangers of Debate: Why It Can Legitimize Bad Ideas In this episode of PsyberSpace®, host Leslie Poston explores the unintended consequences of debate formats in media, arguing that they often function as tools to distribute and legitimize harmful ideas rather than dismantling them with facts. Poston discusses psychological principles such as social proof, the illusory truth effect, and the continued influence effect to explain why debates can amplify bad ideas. She advocates for alternative approaches such as weight of evidence framing, pre-bunking tactics, and audience-centered harm reduction to effectively combat misinformation and reduce harm. 00:00 Introduction to Debate Content | |||
| When "No" Stops Mattering: The Psychology of Stolen Consent | 12 janv. 2026 | 00:27:17 | |
The Erosion of Consent in the Digital Age In this episode of PsyberSpace®, Leslie Poston discusses the systematic erosion of consent both online and offline, and its devastating psychological consequences. Key topics include non-consensual AI-generated sexual imagery, the mass theft of creative work to train AI systems, the exploitation of vulnerable individuals for social media content, and the influence of manosphere ideology on young men. Poston explores the dehumanization and objectification that results from these trends, the psychological theories behind them, and provides insights into moral disengagement and learned helplessness. The episode concludes with strategies for resisting these harmful practices and emphasizes the importance of maintaining and teaching respect for consent. 00:00 Introduction to the Erosion of Consent Research will be added to the PsyberSpace.com main website ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy, EMDR, and Beyond: Real Talk on Mental Health Modalities | 05 janv. 2026 | 00:30:16 | |
PsyberSpace® on Navigating Therapy: Finding the Right Modality and Therapist for Your Mental Health In this episode of PsyberSpace®, host Leslie Poston kicks off season three with an in-depth exploration of several of the many therapy modalities available to you. Leslie discusses that therapy isn't a one-size-fits-all solution, emphasizing the importance of finding the right match between therapeutic modalities, the therapist, and individual needs. The episode covers various therapeutic approaches including CBT, DBT, psychodynamic therapy, EMDR, somatic experiencing, and psychedelic-assisted therapy, highlighting their benefits, limitations, and suitable candidates. Additionally, Leslie highlights the importance of community-based healing and the ethical considerations surrounding therapy. The episode offers practical advice on finding, vetting, and (if needed) firing therapists, and underscores the need for personalized and culturally sensitive therapeutic practices. 00:00 Introduction to Season Three: Therapy Insights | |||
| Going No Contact: Why Adult Children Are Choosing Their Mental Health Over Family | 23 déc. 2025 | 00:15:43 | |
Navigating Family Estrangement During the Holidays 00:00 Introduction to Family Estrangement | |||
| When Trust in Research Breaks: How Engineered Doubt Unravels Our Sense of What’s Real | 16 déc. 2025 | 00:14:58 | |
The Impact of Engineered Doubt on Trust and Knowledge In this episode of PsyberSpace™, hosted by Leslie Poston, the focus is on the concept of trust in a rapidly changing world. Leslie digs into how societal trust is being undermined by 'engineered doubt', the deliberate creation of uncertainty by powerful forces that aim to destabilize public confidence in research, expertise, and evidence. The episode discusses the emotional and psychological impacts of this phenomenon on both the general public and researchers, the role of political pressure and misinformation, and how AI technologies amplify the problem. Leslie emphasizes the importance of recognizing these tactics, maintaining awareness, and finding reliable sources to rebuild trust. The episode serves as a guide to understanding the complex dynamics of trust in an age of misinformation and political manipulation. 00:00 Introduction to PsyberSpace Research list will be on the main PsyberSpace™ site tomorrow ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| Stop Thinking: How Clever Phrases Hijack Your Brain | 09 déc. 2025 | 00:21:37 | |
Recognizing and Countering Thought Limiting Phrases In this episode of PsyberSpace, host Leslie Poston discusses 'thought limiting phrases'—statements that superficially seem wise but actually discourage critical thinking. These phrases often shut down debate, simplify complex issues, and create false equivalencies, benefiting those who want to avoid scrutiny. Leslie explores examples in technology, privacy, workplace dynamics, politics, and more, highlighting their psychological appeal and social impact. The episode also provides strategies for recognizing and challenging these phrases to promote deeper inquiry and nuanced understanding. 00:00 Introduction: AI vs. Calculator | |||
| Limerence: When Obsession Masquerades as Love | 02 déc. 2025 | 00:18:12 | |
Understanding Limerence: The Psychological and Neurological Perspectives In this episode of PsyberSpace, host Leslie Poston digs into the phenomenon of limerence, a state of intense, often obsessive longing that is frequently mistaken for love. Leslie explores how limerence manifests and differs from love and lust, particularly in neurodivergent individuals and those with trauma. The discussion covers the impact of modern technology and social media in intensifying these feelings. Practical advice is offered for managing and overcoming limerence, emphasizing the importance of grounding oneself in reality and seeking support when needed. 00:00 Introduction to Limerence | |||
| How to Spot Weaponized Therapy Speak | 24 nov. 2025 | 00:20:21 | |
Therapy Speak: Understanding Its Positive Impact and Identifying Its Misuse In this episode of PsyberSpace, host Leslie Poston explores the mainstream adoption of 'therapy speak,' explaining its beneficial role in self-understanding and mental health awareness. The script discusses the expansion of psychological terminology into everyday conversations and its revolutionary impact on self-diagnosis, especially among marginalized communities. However, it also addresses the potential misuse of therapy language in relationships, politics, and workplaces to avoid accountability and manipulate others. Leslie outlines how to spot these manipulations and emphasizes the importance of using psychological awareness responsibly to facilitate growth and understanding. 00:00 Introduction to Therapy Speak Resources: Cloitre, M., Stolbach, B. C., Herman, J. L., van der Kolk, B., Pynoos, R., Wang, J., & Petkova, E. (2009). A developmental approach to complex PTSD: Childhood and adult cumulative trauma as predictors of symptom complexity. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 22(5), 399-408. | |||
| From Entropy to Action: Hope, Tactics, and Knowing When to Step Up (E5 of 5 in Series) | 21 nov. 2025 | 00:16:15 | |
Finding Reasonable Hope in the Entropy Age In this final episode of the 'Entropy Age' series on PsyberSpace, host Leslie Poston explores strategies for maintaining hope and taking action amidst systemic chaos and decay. She discusses the psychological underpinnings of hope, the impact of systemic entropy on the nervous system, and the concept of tactical whimsy. Poston emphasizes the importance of building small, supportive rituals and finding your role in collective action. The episode offers insights into balancing self-care with social resistance, aiming to empower listeners to make meaningful changes even in turbulent times. 00:00 Introduction to the Entropy Age Series Resources: Bandura, A. (2000). Exercise of human agency through collective efficacy. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 9(3), 75–78. | |||
| Living in Entropy: Power in the Entropy Age, or Who Thrives When Things Fall Apart (E4 of 5 in Series) | 21 nov. 2025 | 00:15:27 | |
Psychological Patterns of Power in the Entropy Age Welcome back to PsyberSpace with Leslie Poston. In this fourth episode of a five-part series on living through the entropy age, we dig into the psychology of power in chaotic times. We explore how social dominance orientation, hoarding mindsets, and authoritarian tendencies allow some leaders to thrive amidst instability. We also discuss mechanisms of moral disengagement that turn harmful actions into perceived necessities, and the psychological costs of this behavior on society. This episode provides insights into how these patterns shape the behavior of power-holders and offer a lens to understand current socio-political dynamics. Join us next time as we conclude the series by exploring responses to entropy and how small forms of order and resistance persist. 00:00 Introduction to the Entropy Series Resources: Altemeyer, B. (1996). The authoritarian specter. Harvard University Press. Bandura, A. (1999). Moral disengagement in the perpetration of inhumanities. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 3(3), 193–209. Christl, M. E., Pham, K. T., Rosenthal, A., & DePrince, A. P. (2024). When institutions harm those who depend on them: A scoping review of institutional betrayal. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse. Advance online publication. Piff, P. K., Kraus, M. W., Côté, S., Cheng, B. H., & Keltner, D. (2010). Having less, giving more: The influence of social class on prosocial behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99(5), 771–784. Piff, P. K., Stancato, D. M., Côté, S., Mendoza-Denton, R., & Keltner, D. (2012). Higher social class predicts increased unethical behavior. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(11), 4086–4091. Pratto, F., Sidanius, J., Stallworth, L. M., & Malle, B. F. (1994). Social dominance orientation: A personality variable predicting social and political attitudes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67(4), 741–763. Sidanius, J., & Pratto, F. (1999). Social dominance: An intergroup theory of social hierarchy and oppression. Cambridge University Press. Smith, C. P., & Freyd, J. J. (2014). Institutional betrayal. American Psychologist, 69(6), 575–587. Stenner, K. (2005). The authoritarian dynamic. Cambridge University Press. ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| Living in Entropy: Epistemic Entropy, When Truth Stops Feeling Solid (E3 of 5 in Series) | 20 nov. 2025 | 00:14:57 | |
Understanding Epistemic Entropy: Navigating Information Chaos in the Digital Age In the third part of the PsyberSpace series on entropy, host Leslie Poston delves into 'epistemic entropy,' exploring how your sense of reality is impacted by chaotic information systems and media. The episode discusses the brain's role as a prediction machine, the strain caused by conflicting information, and the concept of epistemic injustice. Leslie also examines how digital platforms shape our thought processes and offers practical advice for maintaining clarity and agency in an environment overwhelmed by biased and manipulative information streams. 00:00 Introduction to PsyberSpace Resources: Barrett, L. F. (2017). How emotions are made: The secret life of the brain. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Barrett, L. F. (2017). The theory of constructed emotion: An active inference account of interoception and categorization. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 12(1), 1–23. Barrett, L. F. (2025). The theory of constructed emotion: More than a feeling. Current Opinion in Psychology, 53, 101817. Clark, A., & Chalmers, D. J. (1998). The extended mind. Analysis, 58(1), 7–19. Dotson, K. (2014). Conceptualizing epistemic oppression. Social Epistemology, 28(2), 115–138. Fricker, M. (2007). Epistemic injustice: Power and the ethics of knowing. Oxford University Press. Friston, K. (2010). The free-energy principle: A unified brain theory? Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 11(2), 127–138. Friston, K. (2009). The free-energy principle: A rough guide to the brain? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 13(7), 293–301. Clark, A. (2015). Radical predictive processing. The Southern Journal of Philosophy, 53(S1), 3–27. McEwen, B. S., & Morrison, J. H. (2013). The brain on stress: Vulnerability and plasticity of the prefrontal cortex over the life course. Neuron, 79(1), 16–29. Oulasvirta, A., Rattenbury, T., Ma, L., & Raita, E. (2012). Habits make smartphone use more pervasive. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 16(1), 105–114. Tufekci, Z. (2015). Algorithmic harms beyond Facebook and Google: Emergent challenges of computational agency. Colorado Technology Law Journal, 13, 203–218. Bakshy, E., Messing, S., & Adamic, L. A. (2015). Exposure to ideologically diverse news and opinion on Facebook. Science, 348(6239), 1130–1132. Lewandowsky, S., Ecker, U. K. H., & Cook, J. (2017). Beyond misinformation: Understanding and coping with the “post-truth” era. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 6(4), 353–369. Starbird, K. (2017). Examining the alternative media ecosystem through the production of alternative narratives of mass shooting events on Twitter. Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media, 11(1), 230–239. ★ Support this podcast ★ | |||
| Living in Entropy: System Decay and Psyches Under Late-Stage Capitalism (E2 of 5 in Series) | 18 nov. 2025 | 00:17:19 | |
Navigating System Decay: Understanding Institutional Betrayal and Capitalist Realism In this episode of PsyberSpace, host Leslie Poston digs into the concept of the 'Entropy Age' and its impact on mental health. The discussion covers how the decay of institutions like governments, healthcare, education, and information systems affects people's mental models and trust. Key topics include collective trauma, institutional betrayal, and capitalist realism. The episode explains how layered systems' failures and short-term survival thinking contribute to psychological stress, influencing individuals' perceptions of stability and future possibilities. 00:00 Introduction to the Entropy Age Series Navarro, J. & Tudge, J.R.H. (2022) Technologizing Bronfenbrenner: Neo-Ecological Theory. Current Psychology. 21:1-17 | |||
| Living in Entropy – When the Future Stops Feeling Real (E1 of 5 in Series) | 17 nov. 2025 | 00:15:33 | |
Emotional Entropy: Coping with Psychological Strain in the Entropy Age Host Leslie Poston of PsyberSpace introduces a five-episode series on the 'entropy age,' focusing on the psychological impact of living in an unstable world marked by late-stage capitalism, technological upheaval, and rising authoritarianism. This episode explores the concept of 'emotional entropy,' comparing it to physical entropy to describe the fraying of our inner lives. Key topics include existential anxiety, mortality, freedom, isolation, meaning, ontological insecurity, and anticipatory grief. Poston aims to validate the feelings of uncertainty and confusion that many experience, framing them as rational responses to current conditions rather than personal failures. 00:00 Introduction to the Entropy Age Becker, E. (1973). The denial of death. Free Press. | |||
| We're All Living in Different Realities (Literally) | 03 nov. 2025 | 00:44:42 | |
The Brain's Reality: How Our Perception Shapes Our World In this episode of PsyberSpace, host Leslie Poston explores how our brains create different realities through predictive processing. The discussion includes concepts like the McGurk effect, the role of attention, and the impact of body states on perception. Poston explains how memory is a reconstruction influenced by current priors and how culture and language shape our prediction engines. The episode also addresses the implications for clinical settings, media influence, and the rise of DeepFakes. With practical tips for improving our prediction accuracy and updating our beliefs, this episode challenges the notion of objective perception and highlights the ethical stakes of our constructed realities. 00:00 Introduction: Living in Different Realities McGurk Effect (video via BBC) Resources Bail, C. A., Argyle, L. P., Brown, T. W., Bumpus, J. P., Chen, H., Hunzaker, M. B. F., Lee, J., Mann, M., Merhout, F., & Volfovsky, A. (2018). Exposure to opposing views on social media can increase political polarization. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(37), 9216-9221. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1804840115 | |||
| The Bystander Effect Revisited: Courage Against “Inevitable” Harm | 27 oct. 2025 | 00:25:19 | |
Unmasking the Bystander Effect: Courage in the Face of Threats In this episode of PsyberSpace, host Leslie Poston revisits the classic psychology concept of the bystander effect, challenging the common narrative of human apathy in groups. Starting with the infamous case of Kitty Genovese, Leslie digs into how exaggerations shaped public perception and spurred psychological research. The episode highlights recent studies showing that people often do intervene in emergencies, especially under clear and urgent threats, and how community ties and moral identity play pivotal roles in fostering collective courage. It emphasizes the power of individual actions to inspire group responses, debunking the myth of inevitable passivity and urging listeners to prepare and engage in acts of resistance against authoritarian harm. 00:00 Introduction to the Bystander Effect Resources: Adorno, T. W., Frenkel-Brunswik, E., Levinson, D. J., & Sanford, R. N. (1950). The authoritarian personality. Harper. | |||