Dr. Jamil Zaki

Susan Fiske and many other psychologists have studied warmth and competence, right? How friendly and caring does somebody seem? And how able do they seem to accomplish hard things? And it turns out that in many studies, people's perception is that these are inversely correlated. That if you're warm, maybe you're not that competent. And if you're competent, maybe you shouldn't be that warm.

Susan Fiske and many other psychologists have studied warmth and competence, right? How friendly and caring does somebody seem? And how able do they seem to accomplish hard things? And it turns out that in many studies, people's perception is that these are inversely correlated. That if you're warm, maybe you're not that competent. And if you're competent, maybe you shouldn't be that warm.

And in fact, if you tell people to act as competently as they can, they'll often respond by being a little bit less nice, a little bit less warm than they would be otherwise. There's also data that find that, where people are presented in surveys with a cynic and a non-cynic. They're told about, here's one person, they really think that people are great overall and they tend to be trusting.

And in fact, if you tell people to act as competently as they can, they'll often respond by being a little bit less nice, a little bit less warm than they would be otherwise. There's also data that find that, where people are presented in surveys with a cynic and a non-cynic. They're told about, here's one person, they really think that people are great overall and they tend to be trusting.

And in fact, if you tell people to act as competently as they can, they'll often respond by being a little bit less nice, a little bit less warm than they would be otherwise. There's also data that find that, where people are presented in surveys with a cynic and a non-cynic. They're told about, here's one person, they really think that people are great overall and they tend to be trusting.

Here's another person who thinks that people are kind of out for themselves and really doesn't trust most folks. And then they'll ask those people, who should we pick for this difficult intellectual task? And 70% of respondents Pick a cynical person over a non-cynic for difficult intellectual tasks.

Here's another person who thinks that people are kind of out for themselves and really doesn't trust most folks. And then they'll ask those people, who should we pick for this difficult intellectual task? And 70% of respondents Pick a cynical person over a non-cynic for difficult intellectual tasks.

Here's another person who thinks that people are kind of out for themselves and really doesn't trust most folks. And then they'll ask those people, who should we pick for this difficult intellectual task? And 70% of respondents Pick a cynical person over a non-cynic for difficult intellectual tasks.

85% of people think that cynics are socially wiser, that they'd be able, for instance, to detect who's lying and who's telling the truth. So most of us put a lot of faith in people who don't have a lot of faith in people. Ironically, and even more ironically, we're wrong to do so. Olga Stavrova, this great psychologist who studies cynicism, has this paper called The Cynical Genius Illusion.

85% of people think that cynics are socially wiser, that they'd be able, for instance, to detect who's lying and who's telling the truth. So most of us put a lot of faith in people who don't have a lot of faith in people. Ironically, and even more ironically, we're wrong to do so. Olga Stavrova, this great psychologist who studies cynicism, has this paper called The Cynical Genius Illusion.

85% of people think that cynics are socially wiser, that they'd be able, for instance, to detect who's lying and who's telling the truth. So most of us put a lot of faith in people who don't have a lot of faith in people. Ironically, and even more ironically, we're wrong to do so. Olga Stavrova, this great psychologist who studies cynicism, has this paper called The Cynical Genius Illusion.

where she documents all these biases the way that we think cynics are bright and wise, and then uses national data, tens of thousands of people, to show that actually cynics do less well on cognitive tests, on mathematical tests. That trust is related with things like intelligence and education.

where she documents all these biases the way that we think cynics are bright and wise, and then uses national data, tens of thousands of people, to show that actually cynics do less well on cognitive tests, on mathematical tests. That trust is related with things like intelligence and education.

where she documents all these biases the way that we think cynics are bright and wise, and then uses national data, tens of thousands of people, to show that actually cynics do less well on cognitive tests, on mathematical tests. That trust is related with things like intelligence and education.

And that in other work, this is not from Olga Stavrova, but from others, that actually cynics do less well than non-cynics in detecting liars. Because if you have a blanket assumption about people, you're not actually attending to evidence in a sharp way. You're not actually taking in new information and making wise decisions.

And that in other work, this is not from Olga Stavrova, but from others, that actually cynics do less well than non-cynics in detecting liars. Because if you have a blanket assumption about people, you're not actually attending to evidence in a sharp way. You're not actually taking in new information and making wise decisions.

And that in other work, this is not from Olga Stavrova, but from others, that actually cynics do less well than non-cynics in detecting liars. Because if you have a blanket assumption about people, you're not actually attending to evidence in a sharp way. You're not actually taking in new information and making wise decisions.

No, I think that's absolutely right. And so a couple of things. One, you said that if we know that cynics aren't smarter than non-cynics, why are we deploying them? Well, let's be clear. We know this, meaning you and I know this and scientists know this, but the data show that most people don't know this.

No, I think that's absolutely right. And so a couple of things. One, you said that if we know that cynics aren't smarter than non-cynics, why are we deploying them? Well, let's be clear. We know this, meaning you and I know this and scientists know this, but the data show that most people don't know this.

No, I think that's absolutely right. And so a couple of things. One, you said that if we know that cynics aren't smarter than non-cynics, why are we deploying them? Well, let's be clear. We know this, meaning you and I know this and scientists know this, but the data show that most people don't know this.