Jamil Zaki On Why Cynics Have It All Wrong

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KQED

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.2 • 726 Ratings

🗓️ 6 September 2024

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

After the death of a beloved colleague known for his optimism, Stanford psychology professor Jamil Zaki began reflecting on his own cynicism. He discovered that cultural stereotypes casting cynics as smarter and more worldly are wrong. Instead, cynicism undermines relationships and confines our vision of the future. We’ll talk to Zaki about how to quiet our inner cynic to appreciate a humanity he says is “far more beautiful and complex than a cynic imagines.” His new book is “Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness.” Guests: Jamil Zaki, professor of psychology, Stanford University; director, Stanford Social Neuroscience Laboratory; author of “Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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1:08.4	Coming up on forum, Hope for Cynics. That's the title of Stanford
1:12.5	psychologist Jamil Zaki's new book, which finds cynicism can be far more detrimental than we realize.
1:19.2	Though an understandable response to an unjust and divided world, Zaki says when we indulge in
1:24.9	cynicism, we're limiting our futures, undermining our relationships,
1:29.2	and failing to see how generous and open-minded people are.
	...

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