Home

This is a podcast aimed at better understanding other people and better understanding ourselves. 

I’m Zach Elwood. On this podcast, I talk to people from a wide range of professions and backgrounds about behavior and psychology.

Ready to jump in? Here are some popular episode compilations:

Here are some of my my favorites.

Find this podcast on:

About me

I’m most known for my work on poker tells (aka, poker behavior). My first poker tells book, Reading Poker Tells, has been translated into eight languages. I’m also known for my work on political polarization (for example, my book Defusing American Anger). My independent research on deceptive online activity has been featured in NY Times, Washington Post, Buzzfeed, and more.

Like the show?

If you enjoy this podcast, please share it with others, and/or write me a review on Apple Podcasts. If you want to support my work, get a premium podcast subscription, or sign up for my depolarization-aimed Substack newsletter. Other ways to show appreciation: subscribe to this podcast on YouTube or Apple or Spotify (or wherever). You can also sign up below to get updates. 

Get updates. Sign up with your email:

Episode deep Dives

Deep dives include summaries, transcripts, source and resource links, and listening options.

“Gimbal” UFO video and other famous videos explained in new documentary

Brian Dunning, creator of the Skeptoid podcast, has a documentary out that brings a skeptical, analytical eye to the recent UFO craze – including those three famous UFO videos that got a lot of attention in a 2017 New York Times article. His documentary has the tongue-in-cheek title “The UFO Movie They Don’t Want You…

A dumb 1960s book on reading physical aspects of faces

I thought it’d be interesting to read a very dumb book from 1969 called “Face Reading: A Guide to How the Human Face Reveals Personality, Sexuality, Intelligence, Character, and More.” To be clear: this is a very bad book with no sense/logic to it, basically astrology-like, and I’m reading it just because I was curious…

I ask an 8-year-old about her belief in Santa Claus, Tooth Fairy, and more

I interrogate an 8-year-old about her belief in magical creatures, including: Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, the Boogey Man, mermaids, gods and devils, and more. We also get on the subject of dreams and the nature of her mental imagery (e.g., aphantasia). Episode links: This was a segment of an interview from…

Fake, lying expert spreads paranoia about NJ drones being psy-op

I didn’t share this episode on the audio podcast platforms; I put it up only on YouTube. I saw that Chase Hughes, a serial liar who I’ve examined in the past for this podcast, was getting a lot of views for a video promoting the idea that the New Jersey drone sightings might be a…

To avoid polarization destroying us, we must recognize how “our side” contributes

No matter who wins the election, we’ll likely see toxic political polarization get worse, at least for a time. To avoid us tearing ourselves apart, we need more Americans to see that we’re caught in a feedback loop of conflict. Each group’s contempt and fear provoke contempt and fear from the “other side,” in a…

Taking Trump’s words out of context: How that drives conflict, and even helps Trump

In a recent Fox News interview, Trump was asked whether he thought there would be chaos and violence if he won the election, and his response included mentioning that, if necessary, the military might be needed. Many framed this response as indicating that Trump would go after his political opponents using the military, leaving out…

Is Peter Todd Bitcoin’s creator? A talk about his behavior and language

In the documentary Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery, filmmaker Cullen Hoback put forth the theory that developer Peter Todd was Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious creator of Bitcoin. In this episode, I talk to cryptocurrency expert Jeremy Clark about this theory, with a focus on the language and behavior of Peter Todd. We discuss: the 2010…

5 clues an online account is a scammer trying to phish you for personal info

On the Nextdoor app, a fake account succeeded in getting some personal info from me before I realized they were a scammer. I discuss how that scam went down, share an audio call I had with the scammer, and give some tips for spotting online scammer behaviors and traits. These tips are focused on online…

What’s the problem with the Myers-Briggs personality test?

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality test is used by many organizations and consultants, but it’s been criticized by many as pseudo-science that’s unhelpful, and even harmful. I talk to Randy Stein, who has researched the Myers Briggs and personality tests in general. Transcript is below. Topics discussed include: the reasons people object to the…