Cynicism is a habit of doubting people's motives and assuming the worst about human nature. A cynic believes that people are mostly selfish and that kindness or generosity usually hides some secret self-interest. If you help your brother with his homework, a cynic might assume you're only doing it to look good to your parents, not because you actually care about helping him.

Modern cynicism is mostly about constant suspicion rather than any kind of thoughtful principle.

While healthy skepticism means thinking carefully before trusting someone, cynicism means automatically distrusting everyone. A skeptic asks questions; a cynic assumes the answers are always bad. If your school announces a new program to help students, a skeptical person might ask how it will work, but a cynical person might immediately assume it's just for show.

Cynicism can feel like wisdom because cynics are never disappointed when people let them down. But constantly expecting the worst makes it hard to appreciate genuine goodness when it appears, and it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy: if you treat everyone like they're selfish, they might stop bothering to prove you wrong.