When I describe “cynics,” you might conjure up a certain type of person: the toxic, smirking misanthrope, oozing contempt. But they are not a fixed category, like New Zealanders or anesthesiologists. Cynicism is a spectrum. We all have cynical moments, or in my case, cynical years. The question is why so many of us end here even if it hurts us.
If cynicism were a pill, its warning label would list depression, heart disease, and isolation. In other words, it’d be a poison. So why do so many of us swallow it? One reason is that many people think cynicism comes with another, more positive side effect: intelligence.
Imagine two individuals: Andy and Ben. Andy believes that most people would lie, cheat, or steal if they could gain from it. When someone acts kindly, he suspects ulterior motives. Ben thinks most people are altruistic and would not lie, cheat, or steal. He believes people act selflessly out of the kindness of their hearts.
Knowing only what you’ve read so far, whom would you pick for each of these assignments: Ben or Andy?
- Write a powerful argumentative essay.
- Take care of a stray cat.
- Calculate interest on a loan.
- Cheer up a lovesick teenager.
If you picked our cynic, Andy, for tasks 1 and 3, and Ben for 2 and 4, you’re like most people. The odd-numbered jobs here are cognitive, requiring precise thinking; the even ones are social, requiring the ability to connect. Researchers recently asked five hundred people to choose a cynic or a non-cynic for many tasks like these. More than 90 percent chose Ben for social tasks, but about 70 percent chose Andy for cognitive ones. They acted as though non-cynics are kind but dull, and cynics are prickly but sharp.
Most people also think cynics are socially smart, able to slice through insincerity and dig out the truth.
Most people also think cynics are socially smart, able to slice through insincerity and dig out the truth. In one study, people read about a company where new employees had lied to get their jobs. Readers were asked to assign one of two managers, Sue or Colleen, to handle interviews. Both were equally competent, but Sue “view[s] people very positively, and her default expectation is that everyone she meets is basically trustworthy.” Colleen begs to differ; she thinks “people will try to get away with everything they can.” Eighty-five percent chose Colleen as the new interviewer, confident she’d be better at spotting liars.
More than a century ago, the writer George Bernard Shaw quipped that “the power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who haven’t got it.” People who count on Andys and Colleens agree. A sucker is born every minute, but if you circle life’s block enough times, you learn not to trust everyone, and eventually to trust no one.
Over the last few years, I’ve met dozens of self-proclaimed cynics. Besides the obvious contempt for people, most have something else in common: a harsh pride. It may feel better to believe in people than to be cynical, they say. But we can’t go around thinking whatever we want, just like we can’t pretend tiramisu is a health food. Cynics might live hard lives, but that’s just the price of being right.
In study after study, most people fail to realize how generous, trustworthy, and open‐minded others really are. The average person underestimates the average person.
If cynicism is a sign of intelligence, then someone who wants to appear smart might put it on, like wearing a suit to a job interview. And indeed, when researchers ask people to appear as competent as possible, they respond by picking fights, criticizing people, and removing friendly language from emails—performing the gloomiest version of themselves to impress others.
Most of us valorize people who don’t like people. But it turns out cynicism is not a sign of wisdom, and more often it’s the opposite. In studies of over 200,000 individuals across thirty nations, cynics scored less well on tasks that measure cognitive ability, problem-solving, and mathematical skill. Cynics aren’t socially sharp, either, performing worse than non-cynics at identifying liars. This means 85 percent of us are also terrible at picking lie detectors. We choose Colleens to get to the bottom of things when we should join team Sue.
In other words, cynicism looks smart, but isn’t. Yet the stereotype of the happy, gullible simpleton and the wise, bitter misanthrope lives on, stubborn enough that scientists have named it “the cynical genius illusion.”
If cynicism is a pathogen, we can create resistance to it with skepticism: a reluctance to believe claims without evidence. Cynicism and skepticism are often confused for each other, but they couldn’t be more different. Cynicism is a lack of faith in people; skepticism is a lack of faith in our assumptions. Cynics imagine humanity is awful; skeptics gather information about who they can trust. They hold on to beliefs lightly and learn quickly.
You can be a “hopeful skeptic,” combining a love of humanity with a precise, curious mind.
This mindset presents us with an alternative to cynicism. As a culture, we are so focused on greed, hatred, and dishonesty that humanity has become criminally underrated. In study after study, most people fail to realize how generous, trustworthy, and open‐minded others really are. The average person underestimates the average person.
By leaning into skepticism—paying close attention rather than jumping to conclusions—you might discover pleasant surprises everywhere. As research makes clear, hope is not a naïve way of approaching the world. It is an accurate response to the best data available. You can be a “hopeful skeptic,” combining a love of humanity with a precise, curious mind. This is a sort of hope even cynics can embrace, and a chance to escape the mental traps that have ensnared so many of us.
From Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness by Jamil Zaki, PhD, published by Hachette Book Group. Copyright © 2024 by Jamil Zaki. Reprinted courtesy of Grand Central Publishing.
Disclosure: Evan Nesterak of the Behavioral Scientist worked as an editorial consultant on Hope for Cynics.
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