The World Isn’t Actually Going to Hell in a Handbasket

A lot about the world feels dark right now. 

We’re reeling from a turbulent presidential race. Processing an attempted assassination. Divided by protests—and a barrage of images on social media that feeds our anxieties.

…

Mastroianni and a colleague, Harvard psychology professor Daniel Gilbert, tried to assess whether people think morality is declining, and then whether it actually is. 

“If we believe the worst in people, we treat them in terrible ways,” says Jamil Zaki, a professor of psychology at Stanford University, who has a book coming out on cynicism. “And then we bring out the worst in them.”

His advice: Fact-check your assumptions about others. Talk more about the positive things people do, a practice he calls “positive gossip.” And take a leap of faith on someone: Ask a neighbor for help, give an employee more responsibility, talk to a stranger.

“We’re walking around with a pair of mud-colored glasses on,” says Zaki. “We need to take them off and see each other more clearly.”

Read the whole story (subscription may be required): The Wall Street Journal