Cynicism Isn’t a Societal Upgrade

It won’t be news to anyone that the last 2 years have been difficult ones for humanity: the pandemic, political strife and unrest, natural disasters, all layered on top of the day-to-day challenges that so many face even during friendlier circumstances.

Ask around and you’ll find that there’s a growing consensus that our new normal is a mix of cynicism and devil-may-care self-centeredness, the very definition of cynicism.

Society hasn’t given itself over wholly to cynicism, but the trend also seems to be that so-called influencers are tending toward cynicism. That, in turn, influences some of their following to become more cynical. Additionally, the 24-hour news cycle does a lot to glorify and glamorize the image.

Why is cynicism bad?

In his TED talk, Dr. Jamil Zaki makes reference to a study of two fishing villages situated just 30 miles apart. One village sits adjacent to the ocean while the other next to a lake.

Those who fish the coastal ocean tend to be more cooperative with each other while those inland tend to be more competitive. Outside of work, the social landscape of the villages mirrors the nature of the fishing industry in each village: those along the ocean cooperated more and worked together more in a community setting than those fishing the lake.

In particular, the people in the lake village tended to be less trusting of each other with a general belief that everyone had to watch out for themselves.

In 2018, Olga Stavrova¹ and Daniel Ehlebracht did a study of more than 200,000 individuals in 30 countries. In the study, they pointed out that there is a generally held belief that cynical people have a broader worldview which is what leads them to cynicism — because they see and understand more of humanity which leads them to believe most people are only and always looking out for themselves. What Stavrova and Ehlebracht learned, however, is:

Existing research has painted a rather gloomy, unflattering picture of cynical individuals. Holding a cynical view of human nature has been associated with bad health outcomes and increased mortality risks, lower psychological well-being, diminished self-esteem, and reduced economic well-being.

For me, that is a bitter pill to swallow as I consider myself quite a cynic (though I often phrase it as being a realist in order to justify my cynicism.)

They continue:

Longitudinal studies corroborated this idea, suggesting that cynical individuals earn lower incomes due to their ineptitude for cooperation, and cynicism might therefore be not that smart in terms of financial success.

Clearly, these are not universal truths. There are some extremely wealthy and/or intelligent cynics. However, you likely don’t have to dig through your memories (current or past) to find someone that you didn’t like to be around because of their cynicism (I’ve got some apology phone calls to make).

Hopefully it’s clear that rampant and societal-level cynicism, in the short- and long-run is bad for society.

What’s to be done about it?

Unfortunately, you can’t simply flip a switch and turn off cynicism, particularly if it has been a part of your life for a considerable length of time. And, with all that’s taken place the last two years, it’s harder than ever for people to see past all the political rhetoric that has fueled cynicism for so many people.

To start, let’s look at the opposite of cynicism: compassion. You’ve perhaps seen a progression like this somewhere in the recent past:j

• Pity: I acknowledge your suffering; I feel sorry for you.

• Sympathy: I care about your suffering because I care about you.

• Empathy: I feel your suffering (largely due to a common or similar experience).

• Compassion: I help relieve your suffering.

It is a simple matter to sit back and watch the 6 o’clock news, flinging vitriol at the television about worldly conditions. It’s an entirely different matter to engage in making the situation better.

How?

First, you have to identify if you want to decrease or eliminate as much cynicism from your life as you can. If you don’t want to, I won’t judge. Also, you may want to stop reading right here.

If you do want to change, consider this:

As with so many things in life, most people (myself included) have to start with what my wife refers to as microhabits. They’re tiny steps headed in the direction you want to go. To an outside observer, they may not witness any change in the short-term.

A microhabit to overcoming cynicism might be taking just 5 minutes each day to do something kind for someone else. Or, it might be rephrasing something before you say something in a cynical way or, and this is important. even after you’ve said it. Taking that moment to self-correct will go a long way toward interrupting the cynic-cycle later down the road.

Without putting soul-crushing effort into overcoming cynicism, it may still be useful to remind yourself that cynicism, by its nature, damages trust. We have to trust others to get very far.

Stephen R. Covey saidk:

Without trust, we don’t truly collaborate; we merely coordinate or, at best, cooperate. It’s trust that turns mere coordination into true collaboration. It’s trust that turns a group of people into a team.

The challenge for the day: look for one experience to have real compassion for someone else. After the experience, check in with yourself to see how you feel. It’s possible you’ve forgotten what it feels like to approach life with fewer thorns.

Thanks for reading!

¹”The Cynical Genius Illusion: Exploring and Debunking Lay Beliefs About Cynicism and Competence”, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0146167218783195