Cynicism is a theory about people, the idea that in general people are selfish, greedy, and dishonest. It's really actually an assumption that we make and then we force onto all of our interactions. Cynics, for instance, will pay lots of attention to the worst things that a person does and think, "Aha, I have evidence for my case," and they'll ignore or explain away the better things that a person does.

In other words, they're thinking like a lawyer in the prosecution against humanity. Skepticism is different. Instead of having an assumption about people, skeptics want as much evidence as they can get. If cynicism is a lack of faith in humanity, skepticism is a lack of faith in our assumptions. Where cynics think like lawyers, skeptics think like scientists.

Because of that, they can adapt more to new situations. They're not naive. They can learn more and they can build stronger and better relationships.