We’re only human.
We may not know the full outcome of the 2022 U.S. midterm elections, but we do where many Americans rank among their ideological opponents: less than human. “In the last century, dehumanizing propaganda—likening the Jews to vermin, or the Tutsi to cockroaches—prepared the way for genocide,” said Alex Landry, a doctoral student at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. Violence aside, he told the GSB’s Insights, dehumanization leads people to condone violations of democratic norms. In 2020, Landry employed a famous image depicting the “ascent of man” and asked Democrats and Republicans “how evolved” they thought the other side was, on a scale from 0 (ape) to 100 (fully human). Both sides placed their opponents about 20 to 30 points below fully human, on average.
But it gets curiouser. When asked how they thought the other side viewed them, people said their opponents would put them 60 points below human. “As bad as it is that Americans dehumanize one another—and I’d be the last to minimize this—they don’t do it nearly as much as people fear,” Landry said. Knowing this could prevent a downward “reciprocal dehumanization” spiral. In another study, subjects who were told that their political rivals had not ranked them as low as expected in turn modified their ranking of the other side to be closer to homo sapiens.
How else can we pull back from polarization? GSB faculty and alumni offer a host of suggestions, including restoring common ground. “We have to start rewarding people who are willing to compromise,” said Condoleezza Rice, professor of political economy and director of the Hoover Institution.
If you’re unhappy and you know it, fake a smile.
When we’re happy, we smile. But can the act of smiling make us happy? Scientists have long debated the “facial feedback hypothesis,” which asserts that facial expressions can influence emotional experience. Nicholas Coles, a Stanford research scientist and director of the Psychological Science Accelerator, organized the Many Smiles Collaboration to collect data from 3,878 participants in 19 countries as they underwent such tests as looking at images of puppies (that’s the Loop’s kind of test) while grinning or maintaining a neutral expression. The researchers found a noticeable increase in happiness in participants who mimicked smiles in photographs or who pulled their mouth toward their ears. Gripping a pen in one’s teeth as a smile aid, however, did not result in a strong mood change, so put the Bic down.
Coles said the effects of flashing your pearly whites likely aren’t strong enough to overcome depression. But the research provides clear evidence that human emotions are indeed linked to muscle movements or other physical sensations. “We experience emotion so often that we forget to marvel at just how incredible this ability is,” Coles said.
We need to talk about the Weenies.
The Loop was blithely typing away to remind you that Big Game is at Berkeley this weekend when a hot topic came up: When was the last time anyone referred to Cal fans as Weenies? Who came up with the nickname in the first place? And what does it connote—a frankfurter, a weak person, or something NSFW?
We had so many questions. So we investigated—with relish.
Stanford at the polls.
Photo: Andrew Brodhead
For the second year, students spent Election Day not in classes but participating in civic activities and events on campus. In addition to voting lines outside Tresidder, Democracy Day included speeches by U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang, as well as Dine & Dialogues with faculty, panels discussing civic engagement, and a Party at the Polls.
Are you gonna eat that?
It’s hard to find good krill these days. Stanford researchers have found that blue, fin, and humpback whales are ingesting about 10 million pieces of microplastic (fragments no bigger than a few grains of sand) per day because they eat krill, and the krill are eating plastic. Among the scientists’ concerns is nutrition—plastics don’t exactly do a body good. “If patches are dense with prey but not nutritious, that is a waste of their time, because they’ve eaten something that is essentially garbage. It’s like training for a marathon and eating only jelly beans,” the study's lead author, Shirel Kahane-Rapport, PhD ’21, told the Stanford News Service.
But wait, there’s more.
In late October, the Stanford Department of Public Safety removed a non-student from Crothers Hall. The man, William Curry, had allegedly been living in common areas and guest rooms in multiple residences for nearly a year, posing as a student. Curry has been issued a stay-away order, and the university is modifying policies to prevent similar situations in the future.
In the past few years, demand for more and better chips (computer, not potato) has accelerated dramatically. In an episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast, professor of electrical engineering Philip Wong discusses what it will take to fill that need.
Cardinal badass and seven-time Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky, ’20, beat the world record for the 1,500-meter “short course” freestyle race at the FINA Swimming World Cup—by nearly 10 seconds. The second-place swimmer finished practically in another time zone, 40 seconds after Ledecky.
Holiday family gatherings are around the corner. If that’s good news, enjoy the moment by staying fully present. If it’s not-so-good news, try to be kind. Stop fraught political discussions in their tracks by announcing that you intend to remain childless. And whatever the vibe, don’t forget to bring a good bottle of wine.
Becki Roberts Goodloe, ’86, couldn’t find a store that sold Black Christmas decorations. So she started her own. Now she sells hundreds of Black nutcrackers, Santas, angels, and more every year.
Jordan Morris, ’17, has become the first Cardinal men’s soccer player ever named to a United States World Cup roster. He spoke with Stanford in 2015 about his road to pro soccer.
A group of Stanford students are driving “no-bike Wednesdays,” an effort to get students to walk more leisurely paths to class once per week. Pros: You can chat with friends, notice nature, or even just think. Con: It takes a really long time to walk from GovCo to the Quad.
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