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- Title
The Cynical Genius Illusion: Exploring and Debunking Lay Beliefs About Cynicism and Competence.
- Authors
Stavrova, Olga; Ehlebracht, Daniel
- Abstract
Cynicism refers to a negative appraisal of human nature-a belief that self-interest is the ultimate motive guiding human behavior. We explored laypersons' beliefs about cynicism and competence and to what extent these beliefs correspond to reality. Four studies showed that laypeople tend to believe in cynical individuals' cognitive superiority. A further three studies based on the data of about 200,000 individuals from 30 countries debunked these lay beliefs as illusionary by revealing that cynical (vs. less cynical) individuals generally do worse on cognitive ability and academic competency tasks. Cross-cultural analyses showed that competent individuals held contingent attitudes and endorsed cynicism only if it was warranted in a given sociocultural environment. Less competent individuals embraced cynicism unconditionally, suggesting that-at low levels of competence-holding a cynical worldview might represent an adaptive default strategy to avoid the potential costs of falling prey to others' cunning.
- Subjects
CYNICISM; HUMAN behavior; BELIEF &; doubt; SOCIOCULTURAL theory; COGNITIVE ability; ATTITUDE (Psychology); COGNITION; SENSORY perception; EDUCATIONAL tests &; measurements; ETHNOLOGY research; QUESTIONNAIRES
- Publication
Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 2019, Vol 45, Issue 2, p254
- ISSN
0146-1672
- Publication type
journal article
- DOI
10.1177/0146167218783195