PsyberSpace® - we help you understand your world

Leslie Poston, Research Psychologist: Applied Psychology, Media Psychology, Organizational Psychology
  • 5.0 (5)
  • Social Sciences
  • Updated Weekly

PsyberSpace® is a weekly psychology podcast for curious people who want to understand why the world feels the way it does, online and offline. The show helps you name what you’re seeing and feeling, understand the science behind it, and figure out what to do next. If you've ever wondered what makes "reply guys" tick, why we fall for emotionally manipulative language in politics, why meetings suck, why comfort can keep us stuck, why limerence hits so hard, or how music and media reshape your brain, you’re in the right place. New episodes drop every Monday to help you understand your world a little better each week. PsyberSpace looks at how psychology, media, and big systems shape everyday life. Some weeks it’s algorithms, AI, and social platforms; other weeks it’s work culture, gender and power, climate anxiety, grief, or the way capitalism sets the baseline for what “normal” looks like. Each episode breaks down how these patterns show up in real people’s bodies and minds—and what you can do to respond with more clarity, care, and agency in your own life, work, and community. 2025 Webby Award Honoree 2026 Women in Podcasting Award Nominee 2025 Women in Podcasting Award Nominee 2024 Women in Podcasting Award Nominee

  1. 3h ago

    Sounds Deep, Says Nothing: The Science of B******t Receptivity

    B******t Receptivity: Why We Trust the Wrong Words Host Leslie Poston discusses “b******t 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 B******t” course and mentioning future coverage of pre-bunking. 00:00 Welcome and Setup00:41 Cornell Corporate BS Study02:49 Feedback Loop and Examples04:56 Waterloo Origins of BS Scale06:12 Why We Fall for It07:55 Metacognition and Overclaiming08:41 BS in News and Politics10:28 Scientific and General BS11:52 Training Your BS Detector13:50 Practical Plain Language Test14:47 Wrap Up and Teaser The studies referenced: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886926000620https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2026/03/workers-who-love-synergizing-paradigms-might-be-bad-their-jobshttps://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/judgment-and-decision-making/article/on-the-reception-and-detection-of-pseudoprofound-b******t/0D3C87BCC238BCA38BC55E395BDC9999https://sjdm.org/~baron/journal/20/200221/jdm200221.pdfhttps://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psych-unseen/202007/does-america-have-problem-b******t-receptivityhttps://www.niemanlab.org/2017/08/when-it-comes-to-the-academic-study-of-fake-news-b******t-receptivity-is-a-thing/https://jspp.psychopen.eu/index.php/jspp/article/view/6565https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13546783.2022.2066724 ★ Support this podcast ★

    15 min

  2. 6d ago

    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 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 “b******t 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 Update00:21 The Credibility Trap01:14 Confidence Heuristic Explained03:05 Dunning Kruger And Overclaiming06:10 Authority Signals Amplify Errors09:49 Who Falls For It12:11 Honesty Sounds Uncertain15:38 How To Resist The Trap18:18 Final Thoughts And Sign Off ★ Support this podcast ★

    19 min

  3. May 11

    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 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 Immune00:35 Passport Law Gut Reaction02:15 Propaganda Uses Truth03:08 Agitation vs Integration04:55 Moral Conviction Trigger06:26 Fluency Feels Like Truth07:30 Framing Hides Mechanisms08:42 Policy History Examples09:33 Five Anti Propaganda Habits12:10 Create the Thinking Gap12:41 Closing and Subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

    13 min

  4. May 4

    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 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 Setup00:40 What Is Moral Licensing01:34 Virtue as a Budget02:46 Green Choices Backfire04:53 Licensing and Racial Bias06:58 Activism and Workplace Ethics08:28 Why the Brain Does It10:44 Spotting It in Yourself11:51 Wrap Up and Sign Off ★ Support this podcast ★

    12 min

  5. Apr 27

    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, 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 Setup01:16 What Serendipity Means02:03 From Browsing to Algorithms03:10 Novelty and Learning Science05:12 Mere Exposure and Reinforced Taste07:48 Adjacent Novelty Trap09:29 Algorithms and Identity Mirrors11:55 Shared Culture and Fragmentation13:33 Agency and Slow Effects16:37 Reclaiming the Unexpected18:34 Closing Thoughts19:19 Outro and Subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

    20 min

  6. Apr 20

    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,” 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.” VOTE HERE UNTIL APRIL 30th! 00:00 Welcome to PsyberSpace00:30 CNN Rape Academy Exposed01:41 Motherless Still Online02:43 Pelicot Case Parallels03:46 The Numbers Distraction05:22 Moral Disengagement Explained06:49 Betrayal Trauma and Dismissal08:44 Invalidation and Hypervigilance10:23 Same System Continuum12:19 Community Collusion and Cover13:06 What Real Response Looks Like13:49 Closing and Call to Action ★ Support this podcast ★

    14 min

  7. Apr 13

    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 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. VOTE HERE UNTIL APRIL 30th! 00:00 Reality TV Ethics01:47 Harm Built In03:41 Deception and Consent06:12 Survivor and Cruelty08:18 Contestant Fallout10:57 How Viewers Change13:19 Culture and Squid Game15:11 Profit Over People16:21 Better Standards18:00 Closing and Callouts ★ Support this podcast ★

    18 min

  8. Apr 6

    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 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. VOTE HERE UNTIL APRIL 30th! 00:00 What AI Slop Looks Like01:09 Industrial Scale Deception03:04 Brain Shortcuts Exploited04:52 Decision Fatigue Online06:35 Illusory Truth Effect09:14 Slot Machine Feeds11:35 Emotional Meaning Drain13:45 Creators and Authenticity15:06 Verification Tax and Society16:10 Protect Your Attention17:53 Cognitive Surrender Study18:22 Wrap Up and Support Wharton Paper on Cognitive Surrender ★ Support this podcast ★

    19 min
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About

PsyberSpace® is a weekly psychology podcast for curious people who want to understand why the world feels the way it does, online and offline. The show helps you name what you’re seeing and feeling, understand the science behind it, and figure out what to do next. If you've ever wondered what makes "reply guys" tick, why we fall for emotionally manipulative language in politics, why meetings suck, why comfort can keep us stuck, why limerence hits so hard, or how music and media reshape your brain, you’re in the right place. New episodes drop every Monday to help you understand your world a little better each week. PsyberSpace looks at how psychology, media, and big systems shape everyday life. Some weeks it’s algorithms, AI, and social platforms; other weeks it’s work culture, gender and power, climate anxiety, grief, or the way capitalism sets the baseline for what “normal” looks like. Each episode breaks down how these patterns show up in real people’s bodies and minds—and what you can do to respond with more clarity, care, and agency in your own life, work, and community. 2025 Webby Award Honoree 2026 Women in Podcasting Award Nominee 2025 Women in Podcasting Award Nominee 2024 Women in Podcasting Award Nominee

Information

  • Creator
    Leslie Poston, Research Psychologist: Applied Psychology, Media Psychology, Organizational Psychology
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    116
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Leslie Poston, All Rights Reserved
  • Show Website
    PsyberSpace® - we help you understand your world

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