Tag: cynicism

 

Text from this month’s Psychology today (page 44).  Pictures are my own: 

“Don’t stop parroting Daily Show host Jon Stewart just yet, but a cynical outlook really can take years off of your life.  Thanks to their nihilistic bent, cynics tend to engage in more self-destructive behaviors than their sunnier peers.  Research has shown that they smoke and drink more, and are more likely to commit suicide.”

“Cynics also suffer and die from heart problems in disproportinate numbers.” 

“Cardiologist Donald Haas at New York’s Mount Sinai Medical School found that suspicious people who suffer from heart disease are more than twice as likely as their more optimistic couterparts to end up gravely ill or hospitalized for their condition.  Haas speculates that cynics may be less likely to follow doctors’ orders – either out of spite or despondency.”

A Year Ago on Citizen of the Month:  Dear Chinese People