Cynicism might feel smarter and more realistic—but the evidence simply doesn’t back it.
As someone who writes a column on happiness, you might assume I’m a beacon of light, a glass-half-full, sun-is-always-shining kind of person. The truth is, I often hear my dad say to me, “Zanny, that’s a bit cynical”.
Who can blame me? All you have to do to feel terrible about humanity is look at any of the screens in your life. Wars, politics, poverty, shootings, never-ending rising rent, wealth inequality and unnecessarily rude people—the world is scarily bleak at times. And unfortunately, humans are responsible for a lot of the mess. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has looked around and thought, what is wrong with everyone?
At the heart of cynicism is a lack of faith in our fellow humans—the belief that we are generally a greedy, selfish, dishonest bunch.
Cynics often feel justified in this stance, as if our dim view is a sign of hard-fought wisdom, and that by pointing out humanity’s dismal reality, we are somehow adding value to the world.
But research by Standford psychologist Jamil Zaki, author of Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness, tells another story.
Study after study shows that the damage to cynics’ wellbeing, and to society, is higher than that incurred by their hopeful counterparts. They are wrong more often than optimists, perform less well in cognitive tests and have a harder time spotting liars than non-cynics. They also tend to be sicker, more depressed, drink more and die younger.
According to Zaki, faith in others is the key to building a better future.
But over the past 50 years, we’ve lost a lot of trust in each other. The best proxy we have for it is how much people over time have agreed with the statement: most people can be trusted. In 1972 about 50 per cent of Americans agreed. By 2018, only 32 per cent of Americans agreed. A global study in 2022 revealed the same levels of distrust in 24 of 28 nations.
So, how do we turn the tide? Here’s what Zaki suggests:
Become a hopeful sceptic
Be curious and approach the world with a positive default. Ask questions, seek out information and evidence and update your beliefs as needed. Fact-check your negative ideas and be humble enough to admit when you are wrong about an individual or group.
Focus on a safe home base
Secure relationships give us space to explore what we believe and why. To help ground yourself in those relationships, think of people you trust and reflect on what they mean to you and how you feel around them.
Practise positive gossip
Spread word within your circles of acts of generosity or kindness.
Stop doomscrolling
Turn to solutions journalism to balance your media diet. Seek out coverage of positive developments and interrupt your unnecessarily bleak conclusions with facts.
Cynicism may feel self-protective (if we expect little, we can’t be disappointed, right?). But it doesn’t stay in our minds. It leaks into the way that we live and the way we treat other people.
As Zaki writes, the key is holding two realities at once: a world that feels like it’s falling apart at the seams and the everyday one where people still show up for each other in times of need.