--- title: Jamil Zaki | TIME description: Zaki, PhD., is a professor of psychology at Stanford University and the director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab. He is the author of Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness canonical: https://time.com/author/jamil-zaki/ og:title: TIME | Current & Breaking News | National & World Updates og:description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. og:url: https://time.com/author/jamil-zaki/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 300 og:image:height: 300 og:image:alt: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. og:type: profile twitter:card: summary twitter:title: TIME | Current & Breaking News | National & World Updates twitter:description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Jamil Zaki ## Jamil Zaki Zaki, PhD., is a professor of psychology at Stanford University and the director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab. He is the author of [_Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness_](https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/jamil-zaki/hope-for-cynics/9781538743065/?lens=grand-central-publishing) ## Jamil Zaki *  Nov 23, 2024 ### [If Optimism Feels Ridiculous Now, Try Hope](https://time.com/7178402/hope-instead-of-cynicism-essay/) Hope acknowledges that we have no idea how the future will unfold—and in that uncertainty, our actio... [IDEAS](/section/ideas/) *  Sep 3, 2024 ### [Your Cynicism Isn't Helping Anybody](https://time.com/7012963/cynicism-myths-essay/) "Cynicism is not a radical worldview. It’s a tool of the status quo," writes Dr. Jamil Zaki. [IDEAS](/section/ideas/) *  Jun 25, 2020 ### [Don’t Be Afraid to Virtue Signal — It Can Be a Powerful Tool](https://time.com/5859459/in-defense-of-virtue-signaling-2/) [IDEAS](/section/ideas/) Meta: {"meta\_title":"","meta\_description":"","og\_title":"","og\_description":"","og\_imageConnection":{"edges":\[\],"\_\_typename":"SysAssetConnection"},"twitter\_card":null,"\_\_typename":"Seo"} ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Organization","@id":"https://time.com/","name":"TIME","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/author/jamil-zaki/","name":"Jamil Zaki"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Person","@id":"https://time.com/author/jamil-zaki/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/author/jamil-zaki/"},"name":"Jamil Zaki","jobTitle":"","description":"Zaki, PhD., is a professor of psychology at Stanford University and the director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab. He is the author of Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness","url":"https://time.com/author/jamil-zaki/","worksFor":{"@type":"Organization","name":"TIME","url":"https://time.com/"}}] ```