Daniel Ehlebracht

• University of Cologne

Do cynical individuals have a stronger desire for power and are they more likely to acquire power at work? The negative consequences of cynicism—for cynics themselves and the people around them—render the examination of these questions particularly important. We first examined the role of cynicism in power motives. Results showed that more cynical...

Abstract Background Social media plays a major role in the daily life of adolescents and has become highly interesting for healthcare research as well. The aim of this study was to explore the social perception of orthodontic-related posts on Twitter and Instagram by young adults. Methods 401 orthodontic-related posts were collected during a 30-day...

Introduction In modern health care, social media has become an important tool for both patients and professionals. On platforms like Twitter and Instagram, patients can express their experiences, attitudes, and emotions regarding their orthodontic treatment or the available treatment options. This study aimed to investigate orthodontic-related soci...

We investigated the relationship between democratically determined economic inequality and cooperation in a two-stage experimental design. Although the relationship between inequality and cooperation has been studied extensively, experimental results in this area are contradictory and find inequality to have either a positive, negative, or no effec...

Trust is a double‐edged sword. When warranted, it leads to positive and rewarding interactions. When not, it leads to disappointment and anger. Therefore, it has been argued that people will display “betrayal aversion” in trust situations (i.e., avoid trusting to avoid betrayal). Yet, people also feel tense and uneasy when they signal distrust to a...

We tested how cynicism emerges and what maintains it. Cynicism is the tendency to believe that people are morally bankrupt and behave treacherously in order to maximize self-interest. Drawing on literatures on norms of respectful treatment, we proposed that being the target of disrespect gives rise to cynical views, which predisposes people to furt...

We tested how cynicism emerges and what maintains it. Cynicism is the tendency to believe that people are morally bankrupt and behave treacherously to maximize self-interest. Drawing on literatures on norms of respectful treatment, we proposed that being the target of disrespect gives rise to cynical views, which predisposes people to further disre...

stavrova_online_appendix – Supplemental material for The Cynical Genius Illusion: Exploring and Debunking Lay Beliefs About Cynicism and Competence

Cynical hostility (or cynicism) is often considered as a major factor leading to bad health outcomes. The present research proposes that poor health might represent both a consequence and a source of cynicism. Using cross‐lagged path analyses, we documented bidirectional associations between health and cynicism in a nationally representative sample...

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 lay people tend to believe in cynical individuals’ cognitive superiority....

Mate selection requires a prioritization and joint evaluation of different traits present or absent in potential mates. Herein, we focus on two such traits – physical attractiveness and prosociality – and examine how they jointly shape impressions of overall desirability. We report on two related experiments which make use of an innovative methodol...

We investigated whether justice sensitivity predicts distributional preferences in democratic systems. We hypothesized that persons who are genuinely concerned about the just treatment of others (other-sensitive persons) exhibit stable preferences for equal distributions irrespective of their self-interest, whereas individuals who predominantly car...

Although cynical beliefs about human nature yield numerous adverse consequences for individuals’ life outcomes and well-being, very little is known about factors that counteract the development of cynical beliefs. Drawing from the literature on the “education effect” describing the importance of education in overcoming close-mindedness and negative...

While numerous studies have examined the positive association between religious beliefs and subjective well-being, there is a notable absence of research addressing the potential role of secular beliefs as a source of happiness and life satisfaction. Drawing from literature on compensatory control, the present research fills this void by exploring...

Based on the existing literature on worldview beliefs, cynical hostility, and Machiavellian cynicism, we suggest that holding cynical beliefs about human nature can be detrimental for individuals' income. Cynical individuals are more likely to avoid cooperation and trust or to overinvest in monitoring, control, and other means of protection from po...

In line with the sexual selection for altruism hypothesis, research has shown that men and women typically prefer hypothetical partners who are described as prosocial to otherwise similar individuals. In the present study, we consider this hypothesis in the real world by examining whether prosocial behavior conveys actual benefits in terms of real-...

Trust is essential for a secure and flourishing social life, but many economic and philosophical approaches argue that rational people should never extend it, in particular to strangers they will never encounter again. Emerging data on the trust game, a laboratory economic exchange, suggests that people trust strangers excessively (i.e., far more t...