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Why cynics earn less and die earlier — and how hope can help

The cover of "Hope for Cynics" beside author Jamil Zaki.
Vern Evans
The cover of "Hope for Cynics" beside author Jamil Zaki.

Stanford professor Jamil Zaki's research on empathy shows how developing it — even for those with whom we have profound disagreements — can alter conflicts, deepen relationships and even create better health outcomes.

Now, Zaki tackles an even more intractable topic — cynicism, and how its rise might be eroding society. Cynics, he says, experience more loneliness and depression and have lower incomes. They die earlier. And on the world stage? Cynicism ushers in dictators, oppresses minorities and divides societies.

Despite this, Zaki maintains there are reasons to be hopeful. His new book is "Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness." It’s part science, part memoir and part tribute to the friend who pulled him out of his own cynicism and taught him the value of hope — even as he was dying of brain cancer. Zaki joins Here & Now host Deepa Fernandes to discuss the new book.