Even in Today’s Turbulent World, There Is Hope for Skeptics

If you watch the evening news or listen to grenade-throwing podcasts, you might think the world is falling apart.

Yes, there are a lot of things that can make people sweat at night. Wars and the threat of more wars. Fragile economies. Rather than offering solutions that unite rather than divide, politicians spread disgusting rhetoric. Even families argue around the holiday table.

It doesn’t have to be this way. It is possible to have strong opinions while maintaining respectful and nurturing relationships.

In this sense, Dr. Jamil Zaki offers excellent advice in his book. Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Kindness.

Zaki is a professor of psychology at Stanford University and director of the Stanford Neuroscience Laboratory. He studied empathy and kindness in the human brain at Columbia and Harvard. His work focuses on how people can learn to connect better with others.

Zaki says that in these increasingly skeptical times, hope is actually a skill that can be consciously nurtured.

“In 1972, about half of Americans believed that most people could be trusted,” he says. “By 2018, that proportion had dropped to one-third of Americans; That’s as big a drop as the stock market took in the financial crash of 2008. During the same period, the country’s trust in institutions (education, science, medicine, and government) also declined. fell. For fifty years we have experienced a trust deficit and a rise in skepticism, the belief that people are selfish, greedy and dishonest. We have even exalted cynical thinking as a form of wisdom. Musician and mathematician Tom Lehrer said it well: ‘Always anticipate the worst and you will be hailed as a prophet.’”

Zaki says that in this context, hope is stereotyped as naive, blindfolded and even poisonous. “This reflects a misunderstanding of what is happening. Optimism is will good result. It can leave people cheerful but indifferent, passively waiting for a bright future to come. Hope is the belief that things happen. it could be Things are going well but we don’t know the future. In this uncertainty, there is room for our actions to matter. Hopeful people, more than optimists, take action and pull themselves into the world they want.”

Activist Mariame Kaba once said that “hope is a discipline,” and Zaki says it can be trained. “To implement this, start by imagining the goal you want. Then, chart the path to that goal, and third, take small steps along that path. Using this cycle of thought and action regularly can improve our capacity to achieve our hopes and goals.”

Zaki writes about “hopeful skepticism.” It explains what it is and how a person can practice it carefully.

“Skepticism and cynicism are often confused with each other, but they are actually quite different,” he says. “Cynicals think like lawyers in a lawsuit against humanity. They start with a conclusion—every man for himself—and look for evidence to support that claim. This may seem clever, but it’s actually quite naive. Cynics, compared to non-cynics, are worse at telling the difference between people who lie and those who tell the truth. “We miss a lot of evidence when we try to defend a black-and-white conclusion.”

Zaki says skeptics start with curiosity, not with any assumptions about people. “They look more like scientists than lawyers. Therefore, they are able to learn and adapt more and attain wisdom. ‘Hopeful skepticism’ adds a second component to this mindset. Cynicism often reflects an old cognitive bias: paying much more attention to threats than positive information. There is a reason for this; We must be alert to danger to survive, but it’s out of control. Our modern media ecosystem pours fuel on the fire of negativity bias, and as a result, we often become downright overly pessimistic about humanity. The good news is that when we pay more attention and let go of our assumptions through skepticism, people are often better than we think, and pleasant surprises are everywhere.”

Most of us have encountered people who think sarcasm makes them look smart. What does Zaki’s research show?

One of his favorite works is titled “The Cynical Genius Illusion.” The researchers presented readers with stories of a highly cynical person and a more confident person and then asked them to predict who would perform better on a series of tasks. The study showed that 70% of participants believed that sarcastic people would perform better on cognitive tasks than non-cynical people. “In other words,” says Zaki, “most of us trust those who have no faith in people. Most of us are wrong. In fact, cynics are performing little better at cognitive tasks than non-cynics.”

But still, many people continue to put sarcasm on a pedestal, even in their parenting style, she says. He cites a recent survey finding; Many parents believe that to be successful, their children must view the world as competitive rather than collaborative. “In fact, people with a zero-sum worldview are less happy and prosperous than those with a collaborative mindset,” he says. “I think most of us would be better off if we could dethrone cynicism and recognize it for what it is, not a form of wisdom but a psychological dead end.”

How does cynicism affect personal relationships?

Zaki says sarcasm is poison for relationships because it keeps people on guard and prevents them from opening up or being vulnerable. “Without vulnerability, we lose the broad and diverse benefits of connectivity,” he says. “Cyntics are less willing to be vulnerable among friends, family and colleagues. “If the connection is a psychological one, they’re having trouble metabolizing their calories.”

The good news, according to Zaki, is that practicing “hopeful skepticism” allows people to reap the benefits of personal interpersonal connection. “Leaps of faith, where we take chances with other people and allow them to show us who they are, can slowly rebuild vulnerabilities and relationships, even for hardened skeptics.”