Business life in highly competitive free market democracies like India and the US can be a tough affair. Those who spend enough time in these sorts of economies working in senior management roles often become battle-hardened cynics. This book excerpt seems to have been written especially with such people in mind (which might be most people reading 3L&3S). The author “Jamil Zaki is a professor of psychology at Stanford University and the director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab… His latest book is Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness.”
Dr Zaki says that our society celebrates cynics and sees them – incorrectly as per him – as smart: “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.”
He cites research which shows that rather than being a sign of wisdom, cynicism is actually 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.””
The winners says Dr Zaki are not the cynics but the sceptics: “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….
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.”
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