1 00:00:15,476 --> 00:00:24,436 Speaker 1: Pushkin. Even though I'm a happiness expert, there are times 2 00:00:24,436 --> 00:00:27,036 Speaker 1: when I find it hard to feel hopeful. From the 3 00:00:27,076 --> 00:00:30,436 Speaker 1: climate to poverty, to politics to conflicts around the world, 4 00:00:30,756 --> 00:00:32,876 Speaker 1: things can sometimes feel pretty bleak. 5 00:00:33,036 --> 00:00:36,956 Speaker 2: There's the childish nickname the crazy conspiracy theories. 6 00:00:37,196 --> 00:00:39,436 Speaker 3: Did you see Barack Fusan Obama last night? 7 00:00:39,556 --> 00:00:41,516 Speaker 4: She was taking shots at your president? 8 00:00:42,236 --> 00:00:45,356 Speaker 1: Especially around election time, it seems like we're all divided 9 00:00:45,636 --> 00:00:48,996 Speaker 1: and angry. If the only political conversation you have is 10 00:00:49,036 --> 00:00:51,716 Speaker 1: your uncle Chad screaming at you about politics. 11 00:00:51,716 --> 00:00:53,636 Speaker 3: He just wants to get in an argument, He just 12 00:00:53,716 --> 00:00:54,716 Speaker 3: wants to shit on you. 13 00:00:55,116 --> 00:00:57,796 Speaker 1: But it's not just all those uncle Chads and polarized 14 00:00:57,836 --> 00:01:00,556 Speaker 1: political fights. It feels like we're losing faith in one 15 00:01:00,556 --> 00:01:02,436 Speaker 1: another and in our own agency. 16 00:01:02,716 --> 00:01:05,476 Speaker 3: Nothing I do will matter, Nothing anyone I know does 17 00:01:05,516 --> 00:01:05,956 Speaker 3: will matter. 18 00:01:06,076 --> 00:01:08,396 Speaker 4: So I wish I didn't have to hear about this. 19 00:01:09,796 --> 00:01:12,276 Speaker 1: I'm doctor Laurie Santos, and in our new season of 20 00:01:12,316 --> 00:01:14,996 Speaker 1: the Happiness Lab, we'll look at why we're all feeling 21 00:01:15,076 --> 00:01:17,476 Speaker 1: so cynical these days and what we can do to 22 00:01:17,516 --> 00:01:21,116 Speaker 1: fight these nasty feelings. And we'll get inspiration from one 23 00:01:21,116 --> 00:01:24,436 Speaker 1: of my favorite new books, Hope for Cynics The Surprising 24 00:01:24,516 --> 00:01:28,276 Speaker 1: Science of Human Goodness. It's by famous Stanford psychologist and 25 00:01:28,356 --> 00:01:30,036 Speaker 1: my good friend Jamil Zaki. 26 00:01:30,156 --> 00:01:33,796 Speaker 2: Thanks Laurie, and hello Happiness Lab listeners. I've been studying 27 00:01:33,836 --> 00:01:37,036 Speaker 2: the science of kindness for decades, but even I get 28 00:01:37,036 --> 00:01:40,636 Speaker 2: a little cynical. Sometimes Cinics don't just assume that things 29 00:01:40,636 --> 00:01:43,156 Speaker 2: are bad, but also that there's nothing we can do 30 00:01:43,316 --> 00:01:44,716 Speaker 2: to improve the situation. 31 00:01:45,116 --> 00:01:48,756 Speaker 3: I actually hate politics. Our politicians are not afraid of us. 32 00:01:48,796 --> 00:01:51,236 Speaker 3: They aren't worried about winning our vote or if we 33 00:01:51,356 --> 00:01:52,116 Speaker 3: like what they're doing. 34 00:01:52,756 --> 00:01:56,356 Speaker 2: But research shows that cynicism hurts us in almost every 35 00:01:56,356 --> 00:02:01,116 Speaker 2: way scientists can measure. Cynics are prone to depression, loneliness, 36 00:02:01,156 --> 00:02:05,796 Speaker 2: and unhappiness. They even die younger than non cynics. If 37 00:02:05,836 --> 00:02:09,356 Speaker 2: cynicism was a pill, it'd be a poison. So I 38 00:02:09,356 --> 00:02:11,996 Speaker 2: got inspired to fight it. My new book, Hope for 39 00:02:12,076 --> 00:02:14,796 Speaker 2: Cynics tells the story of how we got into this 40 00:02:14,876 --> 00:02:17,876 Speaker 2: predicament and how we can find a more hopeful path 41 00:02:17,916 --> 00:02:21,636 Speaker 2: again listening to the science about what people are really like, 42 00:02:21,876 --> 00:02:24,076 Speaker 2: which is often better than we assume. 43 00:02:24,556 --> 00:02:26,556 Speaker 1: Well. For the course of this new series, Jamille and 44 00:02:26,556 --> 00:02:28,596 Speaker 1: I will meet people who learned about the dangers of 45 00:02:28,636 --> 00:02:31,316 Speaker 1: cynicism and are trying to do something about it. 46 00:02:31,636 --> 00:02:33,796 Speaker 2: We know this doesn't feel right. I think we all 47 00:02:33,836 --> 00:02:37,236 Speaker 2: know that something is wrong in our culture, in our politics, 48 00:02:37,476 --> 00:02:39,476 Speaker 2: and that we need to do better, and that we 49 00:02:39,556 --> 00:02:40,316 Speaker 2: can do better. 50 00:02:40,716 --> 00:02:42,876 Speaker 1: And it'll be quite a journey. We'll head to a 51 00:02:42,956 --> 00:02:46,076 Speaker 1: Caribbean island to meet some of the world's meanest monkeys, 52 00:02:46,756 --> 00:02:49,716 Speaker 1: and we'll cross the Siberian wilderness to find out how 53 00:02:49,756 --> 00:02:52,956 Speaker 1: wolves help one another out. Closer to home, we'll meet 54 00:02:52,956 --> 00:02:55,076 Speaker 1: a twenty something who led a campaign to fight a 55 00:02:55,076 --> 00:02:57,676 Speaker 1: two hundred year old law that was harming our community. 56 00:02:57,836 --> 00:02:59,996 Speaker 3: There is no guarantee we were going to be successful. 57 00:03:00,116 --> 00:03:02,636 Speaker 3: If anything, everybody told us all the reasons we would fail, 58 00:03:02,956 --> 00:03:04,276 Speaker 3: and yet we were. 59 00:03:04,156 --> 00:03:05,236 Speaker 4: Willing to try anyways. 60 00:03:05,956 --> 00:03:08,436 Speaker 1: And we'll talk to a CEO who's optimism about his 61 00:03:08,476 --> 00:03:10,836 Speaker 1: employees to a radical new business model. 62 00:03:11,116 --> 00:03:14,396 Speaker 4: I have never seen anything like this. We're asking people 63 00:03:14,396 --> 00:03:16,796 Speaker 4: to do a month without pay. They did it out 64 00:03:16,796 --> 00:03:20,196 Speaker 4: of compassion for their fellow team members, and the feedback 65 00:03:20,236 --> 00:03:22,996 Speaker 4: we got all of a sudden, in this world where 66 00:03:23,116 --> 00:03:26,076 Speaker 4: everybody was falling apart, they felt safe. 67 00:03:26,596 --> 00:03:29,196 Speaker 2: Just like my book, this new series will be full 68 00:03:29,236 --> 00:03:32,636 Speaker 2: of surprises. We'll hear what doctor Martin Luther King taught 69 00:03:32,636 --> 00:03:36,916 Speaker 2: America's psychologists and what people often get wrong about Darwin's 70 00:03:36,916 --> 00:03:40,836 Speaker 2: ideas of human nature. And we'll see study after study 71 00:03:41,156 --> 00:03:43,636 Speaker 2: showing that it's possible to find hope in one another 72 00:03:43,756 --> 00:03:46,676 Speaker 2: because most people are better than we realize. 73 00:03:47,196 --> 00:03:50,436 Speaker 3: My assumption, my feeling, my hunch is that a lot 74 00:03:50,476 --> 00:03:54,316 Speaker 3: of us are actually looking for a way to disagree 75 00:03:54,356 --> 00:03:56,196 Speaker 3: and still be in relationships with each other. 76 00:03:56,916 --> 00:04:00,076 Speaker 1: Our new season on Finding Hope will launch on September ninth, 77 00:04:00,516 --> 00:04:03,756 Speaker 1: but Jimmielle's fabulous book Hope Forcinix is out now, so 78 00:04:03,796 --> 00:04:05,916 Speaker 1: you should grab yourself a copy where of you buy 79 00:04:05,996 --> 00:04:11,716 Speaker 1: your books.