PsyberSpace: Navigating Tech, Media, and Mind

About PsyberSpace: Navigating Tech, Media, and Mind

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

Publisher

Dr. Leslie Poston, Research Psychologist: Applied Psychology, Media Psychology, Organizational Psychology

Category

science · technology

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

23 Apr 2024

Latest episode

16 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

132 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   16 Oct 2026

   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 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 01:27 Cornell Seven Overview 03:09 What Allegedly Happened 05:39 Institutional Response Fallout 08:49 Why Campuses Bury Cases 10:20 LSU And A Contrast Case 13:33 How The Pipeline Starts 18:08 Frat Culture In Group Dynamics 21:03 Receipts And Proof Culture 25:19 Rape Myths, Himpathy, DARVO 26:54 Swatting Threats Retaliation 27:50 From Campus To Power 32:42 What To Do Next 35:55 Consequences And Closing ★ Support this podcast ★ (https://donate.stripe.com/fZueVe3mPa3v2K3e2L3VC01)

2. 

   25 Sept 2026

   The One Person Problem: Why We Blame Villains and Wait for Heroes Instead of Fixing Systems

3. 

   17 Sept 2026

   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 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 03:10 Dark Tetrad in Power 06:05 Ego Escalation Pattern 07:25 Moral Disengagement Explained 09:03 AI Weapons and Distance 13:38 Violence Beats Complexity 14:56 Groupthink and Sunk Costs 17:20 Corporate Violence via AI 20:53 What Real Leadership Is 22:29 Fixing the Selection Problem 24:58 Closing Thoughts ★ Support this podcast ★ (https://donate.stripe.com/fZueVe3mPa3v2K3e2L3VC01)

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

5 ratings

Spotify

4.3 / 5

12 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 54 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

95

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

32

Contact PsyberSpace: Navigating Tech, Media, and Mind

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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