Naive cynicism

Biological Parallel

When chimpanzees compete for food, each assumes rivals act from pure self-interest while viewing their own food-seeking as "justified by hunger." This asymmetric attribution—seeing selfish motives in others' behavior but contextual reasons for identical self-behavior—protects against exploitation: assuming others are strategic manipulators keeps you vigilant. Naive cynicism—attributing others' disagreements to bias while seeing our own as rational—inherits this competitive mindset: in ancestral zero-sum conflicts, assuming rivals acted from corrupt motives (not honest belief) was the safer bet.