Hidden Brain: Cynicism and Scepticism

You 2.0: Fighting Despair

This Hidden Brain episode is called “Fighting Despair,” but I became really focused when it came to the second part: the cynicism and the skepticism as an alternative. Before I heard this episode, I never thought about a formal definition of these concepts. Here is how the psychologist Jamil Zaki defines them:

This worldview is cynicism. That is, the belief that people in general are greedy, dishonest, and untrustworthy. And it is on the rise. A survey that came out several years ago found that 12th graders, people who are just entering adulthood, were even less trusting than older generations. I think only 18% of them believed that most people can be trusted.

He talks about the consequences of prevailing cynicism in the society and especially in parenting:

SHANKAR VEDANTAM: So some time ago, we had the psychologist, Jerick Lifton, on Hidden Brain, and he talked about some of his research on parents’ desire to keep their kids safe by teaching them that the world is a dangerous place. In some ways, do you think parents and other caregivers could be partly to blame for their kids becoming mistrustful?

JAMIL ZAKI: I think that parents are probably to blame for a lot about their children, both the good and the bad. But certainly, I think that is a big factor. So I love Jer’s work, and as you describe, he interviewed hundreds of parents and asked them, what do you think will help your child? What beliefs do you think will help them? And more than half believed that in order to help their child, they should make them feel like the world is dangerous instead of safe. And I want to say, I can really understand why a parent would feel that. As a parent, I felt that way too. We think it’s our job to protect our children from the slings and arrows of the world. But it turns out that if you teach your children that the world is full of slings and arrows, they’ll walk around with a shield all the time. And that might not actually help them. So by teaching our kids that the world is dangerous, we might be keeping them safer from certain risks. But we also are exposing them to a huge risk of living a diminished and less fulfilled life.

As it turned out, one research established that in terms of well-being, living in a high-trust group is worth as much as a 40% pay raise. 

And here is one more important exchange on how cynicism affect the individuals and the whole society:

JAMIL ZAKI: Yeah, absolutely. So, cynics tend to suffer many more mental health issues than non-cynics, and also have a hard time connecting with people. Connecting with people is one of the fastest ways to improve our mental health. Social connections are like nourishment that can help us bounce back from difficult times. For cynics though, that’s not really the case as much. So it’s almost as though, if social connection is medicine, it doesn’t work for cynics. It’s almost as though they have, you know, they’re resistant to this medication that helps the rest of us.

SHANKAR VEDANTAM: I’m wondering if some people might be thinking at this point, so there are a lot of negative consequences to cynicism, but surely there are benefits to being suspicious and distrustful as well. Maybe it can keep you safe. There are obviously lots of violent and dangerous and dishonest people in the world. Are cynics more accurate than non-cynics when it comes to spotting the bad guys?

JAMIL ZAKI: This is a common stereotype, so common that psychologists have a name for it, the cynical genius illusion. And it has two parts to it. One, as you’re saying, people think that cynicism is a sign of intelligence. So in research, if you describe a very cynical and very non-cynical person to participants and ask them which one of these people would be better at an analytical task, they will say the cynic would outperform a non-cynic. They also think cynics are socially smart. So if you say, hey, I want to bring somebody in to detect who’s lying in a company when they give their resume. 85% of people think that a cynic will be a better lie detector than a non-cynic. So most people have faith in people who don’t have faith in people. It’s a little bit of a tongue twister, but it’s true, and most people are wrong. The data are pretty clear here, that cynics perform less well on analytic and cognitive tests, and they’re worse lie detectors. So if you actually have cynics and non-cynics look at people sort of giving job interviews, half of the people told to lie, half told to tell the truth, more trusting people are better at spotting liars than cynics. And I think that’s partially because cynics have this general blanket theory that nobody can be trusted. And so they actually, in trying to argue, thinking like lawyers in the prosecution against humanity, stop actually listening, stop actually paying attention to the evidence.

SHANKAR VEDANTAM: So Jamil, I want to talk about some of the drivers of cynicism. The journalist David Bornstein compares the news media to an ambulance siren that sounds every few minutes. I feel you’re going to tell me that my profession is part of the problem when it comes to breeding cynicism.

JAMIL ZAKI: Well, certainly not your show, Shankar. But I want to say that I really think that the profession of journalism is extremely noble. What Bornstein told me that resonated so much is that journalists believe, and I think sincerely believe, that one of the best things they can do to help society is to point out where we’re falling short. Exposes and shedding light on injustice and corruption are really moral and powerful endeavors. The problem is when journalists and the news media end up producing so much bad news that they skew people’s perception of what society is like. This even has a name called mean world syndrome. It turns out that communications scientists have found that the more news a person watches, the more they think that others are dangerous. The more they think that crime is rising, the more they think that they’re unsafe, even when those things are demonstrably untrue.

SHANKAR VEDANTAM: I think many of us have the experience now of opening a news website and almost bracing each morning saying, what fresh horror are we going to be told about today?

JAMIL ZAKI: I feel like opening my phone in the morning is like preparing for an electric shock. You know, and I’ve been shocked so many times that I’m almost desensitized to it and can often feel helpless. And I think I’m not alone in that experience, but it certainly drives up my cynicism and I think is driving up our collective cynicism as well.

And finally, about scepticism:

AMIL ZAKI: Well, I think it’s important to first separate cynicism from skepticism because these two are often confused with one another. As we’ve been discussing, cynicism is the theory that others are greedy, selfish, and dishonest. Skepticism is really quite different. It’s a desire to have evidence to support our beliefs and to not simply accept our assumptions about the world. The idea of hopeful skepticism is twofold. One, it’s being open to evidence the way that scientists are. But two, it’s understanding that our default is relatively negative and often too negative. We often miss the goodness in others even when it’s there. So hopeful skepticism is an openness to the world that is complemented by the idea that, hey, people are probably better than I think. And if I pay attention, pleasant surprises might be everywhere.

If you do not have time to listen to the whole episode, take time to read the whole transcript, though. The link is om=n the top of that post.