Why Cynicism is Not Smart (Jamil Zaki, PhD)

Pulling The Thread with Elise Loehnen

Elise Loehnen

Society & Culture, Religion & Spirituality, Self-improvement, Education

4.8 • 900 Ratings

🗓️ 5 September 2024

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Dr. Jamil Zaki is a professor of psychology at Stanford University and the director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab. Jamil trained at Columbia and Harvard, studying empathy and kindness in the human brain, and I’ve been a mega-fan for years, after interviewing him for his first book, The War for Kindness: Building Empathy in a Fractured World, in 2019. His latest book, Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness, is a must-read. It’s a love letter of sorts, a collaboration through the veil with his late colleague Emile Bruneau, who also studied compassion, peace, and hope. I would love for every single person to read this book as it paints a more accurate, data-driven portrait of who we are, which is mostly good, and mostly aligned in our vision for the future. Jamil explains what happens to us when fear and cynicism intervene and the way we come to see each other through a distorted lens. He busts some other significant myths as well, namely that we glorify cynicism as being “smart”—you know, no dupes allowed—but cynicism actually makes us cognitively less intelligent. Yes, you heard that right. I loved this conversation, which we’ll turn to now. MORE FROM JAMIL ZAKI, PhD: Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness The War for Kindness: Building Empathy in a Fractured World Follow Jamil on X and Instagram Jamil’s Lab’s Website RELATED EPISODES: Amanda Ripley, “Navigating Conflict” "Calling In the Call-Out Culture with Loretta Ross" To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, it's Elise Lunan host of Pulling the Thread. Today I'm joined by Jamil Zaki, a professor of psychology at Stanford University and the author of Hope for Cynics.
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0:31.0	trial period at Shopify.com.com slash special offer or lowercase. That's Shopify.com.com.com slash special offer.
0:49.3	Hi, it's Elise Loonan, host of pulling the thread. On this show, we pull apart the web in which we all live to understand who we are and why we're here. Pulling the thread is about big questions, why we do what we do, how we can understand our own experiences within a larger spiritual and historical context, the ways in which we might begin to understand ourselves and each
1:11.6	other better, and what's required to heal ourselves and our world. I'll be joined in conversation
1:17.2	by luminaries and wise elders, those who have laid tracks in their work and lives to help us
1:22.1	bring meaning and understanding to a world that often feels chaotic and overwhelming.
1:27.4	My hope is that these conversations spark moments of resonance
1:30.4	and plant tiny seeds of awareness so that we might all collectively, learn, and grow.
1:37.6	In certain ways, our culture has glamorized, the cynic.
1:41.9	The person who doesn't have faith in others is seen as wise or especially sharp.
1:48.0	And it turns out that that's true in the research as well.
1:51.0	If you survey people and you tell them about a cynic and a non-cynic and ask them a bunch of questions about those too,
1:59.0	most people, 70% will tell you that cynics are smarter than non- cynics.
2:04.6	And 85% of people believe that cynics are socially smarter than non- cynics.
2:10.6	For instance, that they'll be better at spotting liars.
2:13.6	In other words, a lot of us put faith in people who don't have very much faith in people,
2:19.6	which is ironic and also wrong.
2:23.1	It turns out that the data are pretty clear that actually when we give into cynicism,
2:28.5	we don't just feel bad, which we do, and we can get into that if you want.
	...

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