Being Slow to Criticise
There&#x27;s another factor at play in these discussions: Cynicism tends to look smart to outside observers.<p>Cynicism is often mistaken for competence to outside observers. If a piece of software has a specific problem, the person chanting &quot;This software is garbage&quot; is going to look smarter than the people saying &quot;Hold on, maybe this software is this way for a reason&quot;.<p>There are various (somewhat weak) studies on the topic. For example: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov&#x2F;pubmed&#x2F;29993325" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov&#x2F;pubmed&#x2F;29993325</a><p>&gt;  Four studies showed that laypeople tend to believe in cynical individuals&#x27; 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&#x27; cunning.<p>In toxic and mismanaged environments, being a cynic from the sidelines can be a better political strategy than being the positive person in the trenches trying to find solutions and compromises.