This data package contains (meta) data, analysis scripts, and relevant documents for the project: “Unpleasant trumps unexpected: Experience valence matters more than violated expectations in shaping cynicism". The project investigated whether negative social experiences or negative expectation violations play a more important role in shaping cynicism. In Study 1, participants recalled negative (vs. positive) and unexpected (vs. expected) social experiences in a 2x2 between-subjects design. In Study 2, participants read three scenarios describing such experiences. In both, we measured participants’ cynicism following these experiences.