Do you want to understand people better? Understanding people better can help us be more effective in our work, our personal lives, and in many everyday situations. Seeing others more clearly can also help us connect better with them, reduce our anger, and lead happier lives.
I’m Zach Elwood. On this podcast I talk to people from a wide range of professions about how they read behavior and use psychology in their work. Popular episodes include: relationship tells, interrogation techniques, poker tells, and spotting fake online reviews, to name a few. There are more than 100 episodes.
Some episode compilations:
- Crime and investigation-related episodes
- Political-conflict-related episodes
- Mental health-related episodes
- Sports/games-related episodes
- Philosophy-related episodes

This is a podcast aimed at better understanding other people, and better understanding ourselves. For details, and to get a premium subscription, see www.behavior-podcast.com. On this podcast, I (Zachary Elwood) talk to people from a wide range of fields about how they understand and make use of human behavior and psychology. I occasionally focus on political polarization (and have written a book on that topic). Popular episodes include: behavioral indicators of healthy & unhealthy relationships, reading poker tells, indicators of fake online reviews, and interrogation techniques (to name a few). My main claim to fame is my poker tells work: my first book, Reading Poker Tells, has been translated into 8 languages.
This episode is about ”behavior bullshit.” There are many self-proclaimed behavior experts spreading bad, misleading, and irresponsible concepts about human behavior, and some of these people are quite popular. This episode focuses on Jack Brown (Twitter: @drgjackbrown), one of the more egregious offenders amongst behavior bullshitters. Other topics discussed include: eye-quadrant behavior analysis (for example, someone looking to upper right); NLP (neuro-linguistic programming); some of the common bad ideas in behavior bullshit ; the use of ambiguous language to make one's background seem impressive; and more.
To get ad-free episodes, and more, get a premium subscription. To learn more about the show, go to behavior-podcast.com. I'm on Twitter at @apokerplayer. See a summary of my work.

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Popular Episodes
- About this podcast: why I do it and why I think it’s important
- Questioning if body language is useful for detecting lies, with Tim Levine
- Reading and predicting jury behavior, with Christina Marinakis
- How to spot fake online reviews, with Olu Popoola
- Group psychology, polarization, and persuasion, with Matthew Hornsey
- Behavioral indicators of healthy or unhealthy relationships, with Brandi Fink
- Cryptocurrency, problem gambling, and addiction, with Paul Delfabbro
- Reading poker tells, with poker pro Dara O’Kearney
- Why do so many people “want to watch the world burn”?, with Kevin Arceneaux
- Understanding and coping with anxiety, with editor of The Atlantic Scott Stossel
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 in the political conflict resolution space. Towards that, I’ve written a book called Defusing American Anger.
My independent research on deceptive online activity has been featured in NY Times, Washington Post, and elsewhere. Here’s my Twitter.
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 subscription., or sign up for my depolarization-aimed Substack. Other ways to show appreciation: subscribe to it on YouTube or Apple or Spotify (or wherever). You can also sign up below to get updates.