The Human Behavior Podcast

The Human Behavior Podcast is built on one question: why do people act the way they do? Brian Marren and Greg Williams answer it in conversation, using a framework the show calls Human Behavior Pattern Recognition and Analysis, the idea being that behavior cues can be read and used to predict likely outcomes. That sounds abstract. The episodes are not.

'Do You REALLY Remember?' starts from the claim that memory is a creative, ever-evolving story the brain tells itself, not a playback. The hosts move through phantom limb research, the role of dreams in consolidating memories, and the argument that biases exist for a reason, keeping a person focused and safe. Greg makes the case with Stephen King: to read horror, he has to be able to picture himself in the story, and confirmation bias is what lets him do that. The conversation wanders, taking in a horror-film release date and a Peter Griffin bit, then returns to why memories distort and why that distortion is deliberate. It ends with exercises a listener can actually try, including spaced retrieval, emotional tagging, and rapid note-taking.

'How To Talk To Anyone' shows the two-host dynamic most clearly. Brian opens with something he says people who have met them in person already know: Greg talks to everyone, everywhere, striking up conversations and asking questions wherever they go. The episode turns that habit into technique: building trust through common ground, identifying key decision makers, balancing confidence with authenticity, reading a room. Examples come from hostage negotiations and courtrooms as readily as from family anecdotes, and the throughline is information gathering.

A guest episode shifts the show toward applied territory. In 'School Safety and Security with Dr. Kenneth Trump', a guest introduced as having more than 40 years in school safety, with early days spent on gang issues in Cleveland schools, talks about the push to create an industry standard, the difference between 'should' and 'shall' in a document that can put a school in a tight spot, and expensive entrance technology that does not catch the weapons it claims to. He credits the hosts' behavior work as transferable to his field. The conversation closes on a shared image of singing from the same sheet of music and building a bigger choir.

What a listener gets across all of it is the same thing in different forms: a way to notice behavior, name it, and do something with it. The tone is easygoing and digressive, two people who let the tangents run before pulling the thread back. The hosts thank Patreon members for their suggestions and ask for shares on the way out. And the sign-off that recurs is short enough to remember: training changes behavior.