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People with 'spiky' names are less likely to get job interviews. Do you have one?

Name-based bias goes even beyond race, sex, and class.

via Canva/Photos

People lined up for job interviews.

There have been many studies in the past that show people face a lot of bias when they turn in a job application. A 2021 study found that job applicants who had "Black-sounding" names were nine percent less likely to get a call back than those whose names sounded "white." People who review resumes are also looking for subtle clues of social class.

A 2016 Yale study found that men who appear to be upper-class in job applications fare much better than women of the same class when applying to elite positions. However, lower-class women perform better than lower-class men in the same process. Unfortunately, sex, race, and class bias are significant issues when it comes to hiring, but another prejudice has nothing to do with inherent characteristics: the way your name sounds can make a big difference when you send in a job application.

Do people judge job applications based on your name?

A recent study carried out by The Conversation found that people attribute personality characteristics to people based on whether their name sounds "smooth" or "spiky." The researchers designed a job ad looking for a candidate high in one of six personality factors: honesty/humility, emotionality, extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness (how organized or hard-working someone is), and openness to experience.

spiky names, job interview, job application, job candidates, resumes, waiting, People lined up for job interviews.via Canva/Photos

The researchers sent in applications with people who had smooth-sounding names with sonorant consonants (l, m, n), and the others were spiky with voiceless stops (p, t, k).

Some examples of smooth names (sonorant consonants) include: Joanna, June, Norah, Allen, Linus, and Moses.

Some examples of spiky names (voiceless stops) include: Rita, Erica, Tia, Kurt, and Victor.

The researchers found that individuals with smooth-sounding names were perceived as more agreeable and emotional, whereas those with spikier names were seen as more extroverted. So, if people are hiring for a job where they were looking for agreeable characteristics, those with smooth-sounding names had a better chance of getting the gig.

Interestingly, according to researchers, the way a name sounds has nothing to do with someone’s personality. In real life, Lou and Erica may be just as agreeable as one another. But when hiring managers are just looking at names, Lou gets the gig.

What is sound symbolism?

The idea that the sound of a word can make it feel aligned with particular qualities is known as sound symbolism. It’s why we often say that so-and-so looks like an Emma or a Charles. A popular study on the phenomenon known as the Bouba / Kiki effect found that when given the two names Kiki (spiky) and Bouba (smooth), they are much more likely to call the figure on the left Kiki and the one on the right Bouba. Although researchers don’t know the exact reason why we map certain sounds to specific shapes, they believe it may reflect how we move our mouths to make those sounds.

bouba kiki, bouba kiki effect, shapes, sounds and shapes, sound symbolism, The Bouba / Kiki effect. via Wikimedia Commons

“The rounded shape may most commonly be named ‘Bouba’ because the mouth makes a more rounded shape to produce that sound, while a more taut, angular mouth shape is needed to make the sounds in ‘Kiki.’ Alternatively, the distinction may be between coronal or dorsal consonants like /k/ and labial consonants like /b/,” researchers at Mind Modeling wrote.

The study may reveal that there’s one more thing many of us have to worry about when applying for a job. But it’s also a reminder that we all have some sort of bias, and next time we see a name without knowing the person, we may be judging them based on criteria that doesn't reflect who they are. Much like it’s wrong to judge a book by its cover, judging someone by their name may mean you miss out on someone truly wonderful.

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Mental Health

What it's like having 'face blindness' and not recognizing people you've known for years

I've lived with it my whole life. Here are 5 things I've tried that help.

Photo link: Canva

A woman only sees half her face.

If you know, you know. Face blindness, or as medical professionals call it, prosopagnosia, can be frustrating even in its mildest form. For me, it's the constant disappointment I see on people's faces when I don't register who they are. One time, I didn't identify my own comedy agent at the Laugh Factory. Another more egregious time, I didn't recognize my boyfriend of three years at the mall. (I didn't expect to see him and he was wearing a hat. He never wears hats!)

I used to have a joke that, to me, everyone looks like some version of actor Tobey Maguire no matter their gender, race, or height. I would be awful picking out a suspect in a police lineup, because I'd just keep saying, "Um, he was Spiderman, I think?"

The topic of face blindness isn't new. In neurologist Oliver Sacks's book The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, he writes, among many things, about a case study in which someone has a much more complex, severe condition processing stimuli called visual agnosia. Sacks discusses the neurological theories behind the condition, even adding in philosophical and Freudian explanations.

- Neurologist Oliver Sacks discusses what it's like to have prosopagnosia. www.youtube.com, CNN

The condition is actually somewhat common. According to Neuroscience News, 1 in 50 people have mild face blindness or "developmental prosopagnosia."

In her recent piece "Even mild face blindness can cause serious difficulties in daily life – new study," for The Conversation, psychologist Judith Lowes asks, "Have you ever been ignored by someone you knew when you bumped into them in the street or at an event? If so, you probably thought they were being rude. But they might have face blindness–a condition officially known as developmental prosopagnosia."

Her findings were fascinating. "In a new study my colleagues and I conducted, 29 adults with face blindness revealed the daily challenges they face. Ten of the participants said they could not reliably recognise immediate family members, and 12 couldn’t recognise closest friends in out-of-context or unexpected encounters. Yet many felt it was socially difficult to admit these struggles."

-People talk about their experience with face blindness. www.youtube.com, The New York Times

The study concludes prosopagnosia might be a form of neurodivergence, and somewhere on the autism/ADHD spectrum. She writes that recognizing face blindness as a "form of neurodivergence isn’t just about awareness, it’s about dignity, inclusion, and making everyday life easier for thousands of people."

But, for my fellow face-blind folks, there's hope and help. On the subreddit r/Prosopagnosia, an OP asks "Strategies for recognizing people?" Their more specific question is "How do y’all compensate for your face blindness?" The comments section bursts with ideas.

Come from the assumption that you know everyone

A few people suggest greeting people with "good to see you," instead of "nice to meet you," no matter what. I do this and while it seems strange at first, it's a way of faking it until you make it. Then if it's a short conversation, no harm, no foul.

Learn to rely on vocal cues

If, let's say using the last example, you need to buy more time. Listen closely to a person's voice. For me, my auditory memory is intact, so if I can just get a few seconds with vocal cues, my recognition sensors set in.

Be honest and open about the condition

Other Redditors recommend a more honest approach. One shares, "I’m open about it. I say something like 'I’m so sorry, I have face blindness, can you remind me how we know each other?' And people are usually really kind about it. The only time it’s been truly awkward for me was when the response was 'Ten years of friendship?!' (She’d changed her very distinctive hair.)"

Look for specific traits to memorize

This has truly helped me. When I'm meeting someone, especially someone I assume I'll see again, I try to find one thing on their face I can remember. A beauty mark on their cheek or a tattoo on their arm. Then, personally, I repeat it in my head: "Mike, tattoo, Mike, tattoo." Another Redditor advised to "look for scars." Same idea—find something on them that won't likely change and commit it to the space in your brain where the memory of their face would have gone.

Subtly ask for more context

This is a big one. Like many of us, it becomes kind of a game of fishing for information without awkwardly giving yourself away. I'll often ask, "When was the last time I saw you?" And if they say, "At our high school reunion of course," then boom—that's information! Once I have just a few pieces of the face blindness jigsaw puzzle, I can piece it together pretty quickly. (And then I often overcompensate once I realize who they are. "Oh yeah! You were wearing the cutest pink dress! How's Steve? Still living in Milwaukee?")

As one commenter put it, "Bluffing and hoping for some context from the conversation's clues."

face blindness clues, tattoo, body markings, memory Tattoo artist with a canine assistant creates colorful ink. Giphy

While many in this and other threads online discuss the anxiety and embarrassment that can come as a result of this condition, it is not all that uncommon. And if we approach it from the neurodivergence standpoint, as Lowes proposes, it might make it easier to discuss and give grace to ourselves and others.

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Technology

A student accidentally created a rechargeable battery that she says could last 400 years

"This thing has been cycling 10,000 cycles and it’s still going." ⚡️⚡️

Steve Zylius/University of California, Irvine.

UCI doctoral candidate Mya Le Thai has developed a nanowire-based technology that allows lithium-ion batteries to be recharged hundreds of thousands of times.

There's an old saying that luck happens when preparation meets opportunity.

There's no better example of that than a 2016 discovery at the University of California, Irvine, by doctoral student Mya Le Thai. After playing around in the lab, she made a discovery that could lead to a rechargeable battery that could last up to 400 years. That means longer-lasting laptops and smartphones and fewer lithium ion batteries piling up in landfills.

A team of researchers at UCI had been experimenting with nanowires for potential use in batteries, but found that over time the thin, fragile wires would break down and crack after too many charging cycles. A charge cycle is when a battery goes from completely full to completely empty and back to full again.

But one day, on a whim, Thai coated a set of gold nanowires in manganese dioxide and a Plexiglas-like electrolyte gel.

batteries, renewable energy, energy, renewable batteries, rechargeable batteries, innovation Batteries being recycled at WRWA, London. Nov ‘21 Photo by John Cameron on Unsplash

"She started to cycle these gel capacitors, and that's when we got the surprise," said Reginald Penner, chair of the university's chemistry department. "She said, 'this thing has been cycling 10,000 cycles and it's still going.' She came back a few days later and said 'it's been cycling for 30,000 cycles.' That kept going on for a month."

This discovery is mind-blowing because the average laptop battery lasts 300 to 500 charge cycles. The nanobattery developed at UCI made it though 200,000 cycles in three months. That would extend the life of the average laptop battery by about 400 years. The rest of the device would have probably gone kaput decades before the battery, but the implications for a battery that that lasts hundreds of years are pretty startling.

- YouTube www.youtube.com

“Mya was playing around, and she coated this whole thing with a very thin gel layer and started to cycle it,” said Penner added. “She discovered that just by using this gel, she could cycle it hundreds of thousands of times without losing any capacity.”

“That was crazy,” he added, “because these things typically die in dramatic fashion after 5,000 or 6,000 or 7,000 cycles at most. ”"The big picture is that there may be a very simple way to stabilize nanowires of the type that we studied," Penner said. "If this turns out to be generally true, it would be a great advance for the community." Not bad for just fooling around in the laboratory.

Since her discovery, Mya Le Thai has gone on to a successful career as the Principal Scientist with the Enevate Corporation,

This article originally appeared eight years ago.

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Animals & Wildlife

Man builds small pond in the Brazilian forest and the life it attracts is incredible

The ensuing party at the waterhole is like something out of a cartoon.

Canva Photos
Man builds small puddle in forest. It attracts an astounding scene.

Animals, much like people, need the basics of survival in order to thrive: food, water, shelter from harsh elements, and some form of companionship. It's not uncommon to see wild animals and not think much about us having similar basic needs, but I also haven't met a person yet who doesn't internally squeal with delight at the sight of two otters holding hands while floating down a river.

Point being, animals and humans have similar needs and sometimes wants, though it's unclear if the animals this forest explorer encounters need access to water or if they simply want a swimming hole where they can pal around with their neighbors.

Brazil; forest camera, wild life, interesting wild life, man builds puddle, puddle in forest, animals, rainforest, conservation, cute Do animals need companionship more than we think? Giphy

In an adorable video uploaded to social media, a man exploring a forest in Brazil decides to dig a small hole in the ground and fill it with water.

Doesn't sound that adorable, does it? Well, this wasn't just a hole that would eventually disappear when the water absorbed into the ground. It was made to last, making it a new, semi-permanent pond in the jungle.

The unnamed man fits the hole with what looks like a black plastic tarp that goes in the bottom of a pond, holding it in place with large stones. He then sets up a camera on a nearby stake he places in the ground to film what happens after he leaves. The results make it difficult to contain a smile.

It seems almost immediately after the sun rises there's a menagerie of different animals coming to check out the new watering hole.

First, two green birds that look like either parakeets or Brazilian parrots arrive. Then, another larger bird comes by. In the time-lapsed video, birds dominated the manmade puddle of fresh water. They drank, played, flapped around in the water, just having the best bird time before a new animal shows up. This time it's a pair of adorable baby jaguarundi who are quickly joined by two more slightly larger cubs, all drinking from the hole.

At one point, a giant lizard decided that the new watering hole made a good pool so he laid his entire body in it. It's not clear if any of the animals wanted a drink while the lizard was having a rest, but the next shot is of a large bird looking directly at the camera as if it were tattling.

Watch the magical timelapse video here:


The man, who prepared a small puddle in the forest in Brazil, wondered and recorded the creatures that would benefit from this water
byu/0len inMadeMeSmile


Commenters loved the fun video of animals checking out the little makeshift pond in the middle of the forest.

"The biodiversity is truly staggering. The baby mountain lions were the cutest. Also the disrespect of the monitor lizard just lying in it was hilarious," one person says.

"All of those animals having a drink, a bath, some fun... except that one bird, face in the camera, going 'It's a trap!'" someone jokes.

"I don't get anything anywhere near as cool as these beasts, but setting up a big bird bath + another one at ground level right near my study window was the best investment I've ever made in my yard. Daily I get at least 20 different birds of 4-5 different species drop by for a drink/bath along with a few lizards, and at night there's everything from possums to koalas having a sip," another says.'Someone else comments on the beauty of it all, saying, "It’s kind of incredible just how many diverse critters live out in the forests of Brazil."

Some commenters brought up the obvious question: Is it OK for the man to have interfered in the natural habitat like this? What happens if and when the pond dries up?


Brazil; forest camera, wild life, interesting wild life, man builds puddle, puddle in forest, animals, rainforest, conservation, cute Humans have destroyed enough rainforest that a little man-made pond isn't going to hurt anything. Photo by Paulius Dragunas on Unsplash

The Wildlife Conservation Network writes that conservationists may intervene in nature when the threat faced by animals is not natural, or is man-made. They write that it's wrong to scare off gazelles before a hungry lion comes along to eat them, as that has a direct impact on the natural food chain. But you could argue that with immense man-made destruction and deforestation of habitats in Brazil, a small puddle that brings fresh water and a sense of community to the animals is fair play, and won't ultimately have a big impact on the ecosystem.

The way the animals responded to the pond makes it seem like they've been waiting around their whole lives for someone to build one. No squabbling or one species trying to stake claim—they all took turns enjoying a drink or playing. It's quite sweet how seemingly cooperative they all were. They'll get good use from that small watering hole for a while thanks to a curious human with a camera.

This article originally appeared in April. It has been updated.

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