Episodes

Episode 12: Why the Criminal Justice System Can...

Can someone's past reliably predict what they'll do next? Episode 12 explores how the criminal justice system uses patterns of behavior, risk assessments, prior convictions, and human judgment to make...

Lindsay Clancy, Postpartum Psychosis, and the I...

Using the Lindsay Clancy trial as a starting point, this bonus episode explores what the insanity defense really is, how forensic experts evaluate criminal responsibility, and why our brains are...

Episode 11: Why Good People Do Bad Things

Could you recognize the moment you stopped thinking for yourself? In Episode 11 of The Human Pattern, we explore Stanley Milgram's famous obedience experiments and what they reveal about authority,...

Episode 10: The Patterns Trauma Leaves Behind

Trauma doesn't only change what happened to us. It can change how we see ourselves, other people, and the world around us. In this episode, we explore how survival patterns...

Episode 9: Heaven's Gate

What if the real lesson of Heaven's Gate isn't that a group of people believed something unbelievable, but that every one of us is more influenced by certainty, belonging, and...

Episode 8: Why Smart People Believe False Things

What if believing something false has less to do with intelligence than it does with being human? Discover why smart people fall for misinformation, conspiracy theories, and irrational beliefs, and...