The presidential election laid bare political fault lines across the country, stark divisions

that can be even more intense when they involve loved ones. William Brangham looks at ways

to handle this post-election stress and find a little holiday season hope.

After an election, by definition, there's a winner and there's a loser. Triumph on one side, disappointment

on the other. When those two sides exist within one family, though, that can complicate any

Thanksgiving or holiday gathering. My next guest has some ideas on how to navigate these tricky

waters and how to find the good in others. Jamil Zaki is a professor of psychology

at Stanford University, an author of Hope for Cynics, the surprising science of human goodness.

Jamil Zaki, so good to have you on the program. This has obviously been a tumultuous year, a very

divisive election.

How would you counsel someone who is potentially going to have a meal or a visit with someone

who they might see as having completely contrarian views to their own?

How would you counsel them to go about that?

I think, first of all, let's acknowledge that this is a hard season.

It's a hard season in general, but when you add political division, it becomes even harder.

So I think it's natural to feel that apprehension.

But I think oftentimes we assume that people we disagree with must be far more different from us than they really are.

We assume they're more extreme, more hateful, more anti-democratic.

And I would say that replacing some of those assumptions with curiosity about what the people in our lives actually believe is a good place to start.

So let's say you are a little bit more certain that the person across the table does have starkly differing views.

Do you think it's a good idea for people to try to reach across the table metaphorically?

I think it depends how they're reaching across.

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