Dif. Before you share personal information about someone, pause long enough to ask yourself, Do I really need to share this information? The form of gossip weve found beneficial is negative gossip about people who have behaved in an antisocial way, Willer says. Pers. They prefer to do the least amount for the most gain, believing any and all. doi: 10.1177/0956797617716918. Psychol. In a 2015 study published in Social Neuroscience, scientists looked at brain imaging of men and women as they heard positive and negative gossip about themselves, their best friends and celebrities. They are hard to spot, but every bit as destructive as other times of gossips. Firstly, it is a well-known fact that Irish people love to laugh and, by that . Individ. A less benign form of gossip is when people discuss information about celebrities or other people highlighted in tabloids or social media. Together the evidence suggests that gossip may play an important role in maintaining social order, Willer says. Soc. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2016.05.019, Wu, J., Balliet, D., and Van Lange, P. A. They also note that gossip tends to be about acquaintances more than celebrities, and typically involves an exchange of social information rather than thoughts about one's physical appearance or achievements. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2014.06.038, Jonason, P. K., and Schmitt, D. P. (2012). Soc. Excluding these participants from analysis did not change the results. Is this wrong? It has been shown that the three traits are overlapping, but are nevertheless distinct concepts (e.g., Furnham et al., 2013; Lee et al., 2013; but see also Muris et al., 2017). Compass 7, 199216. Gaining social information and knowledge about people surrounding us provides us with a sense of control and advantage over others (e.g., Swann et al., 1981; Fiske, 2004). The inter-factor correlations varied in between r = 0.10 and 0.61 for the work setting and between r = 0.17 and 0.43 for the private setting. Thirdly, a growing number of researchers assume that gossip serves as an informal policing device for controlling free riders and social cheats (Dunbar, 2004b; Keltner et al., 2008; Feinberg et al., 2012). The present study revealed less consistent evidence for evaluative gossip and therefore did not support the notion that women evaluatively gossip more than men.". However, research on order effects within surveys suggests that both assimilation and contrast effects might occur (Sudman et al., 1996). Sign up for our weekly newsletters and get: By signing in, you agree to our Terms and Conditions doi: 10.1177/1059601112450607, Farley, S. D. (2011). Roeser, K., McGregor, V. E., Stegmaier, S., Mathew, J., Kubler, A., and Meule, A. And although Gretchen Wieners is a mean girl, she is definitely very relatable. Individ. Taken together, both classical linear regression and Bayesian linear regression show that the importance of motives mainly depends on the gossiper's narcissism. Personality traits reflect people's characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. Gossip typically centers on the negative aspects of a person's personal appearance, personal achievements, or personal behaviors. Her surprise at how serious God views gossip served as a giant wake up call to mea girl whose known gossip was wrong since childhood, but had somehow forgotten the gravity of gossip somewhere along the way. Gossiping gives people a sense of power. Similar to #3, when someone asks you to go out at the last minute, this can be frustrating, because it doesn't leave you enough time to mentally prepare. Peng et al. And being the scapegoat might have disastrous effects on the individuals as, in addition, their relationship to colleagues appears to be characterized by difficulties (Ellwardt et al., 2012a). Sci. Int. To address the issue of sample size, the analyses were repeated using Bayesian statistics (e.g., van de Schoot et al., 2013). Key is that youre sharing information in an appropriate way thats helping others. On being eager and uninhibited: narcissism and approachavoidance motivation. A bad gossiper, on the other hand, is someone who shares information about others in order to get ahead or get an advantage themselves, or just plain recklessly. Others dont tend to trust bad gossipers with information when they have it. 22, 273288. Pers. Sci. He is bursting with a thirst for knowledge, inventiveness and creativity. Evol. In addition, Feinbergs research has shown that gossip can promote cooperation by spreading important information. Spreading rumors about people who have behaved badly allows our friends and acquaintances to know who to trust. Ratings were provided on a 9-point rating scale ranging from 1 (disagree strongly) to 9 (agree strongly). Dark and immoral: the links between pathological personality features and moral values. doi: 10.1177/1948550611405073, Beersma, B., and Van Kleef, G. A. Subsequent conversations center on negative evaluations of that person. Psychology Today 2023 Sussex Publishers, LLC. Tell me the gossip: the self-evaluative function of receiving gossip about others. But what makes someones personality so attractive? Instead, they told a friend, who told a friend, who told my husband. Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons were two of Hollywood's favorite gossip columnists during the so-called Hollywood Golden Age, with film studios planting items to help publicize their stars and movies. And research has indeed shown that a lot of gossip has both positive effects and moral motivations, explains Robb Willer, Professor of Sociology and Director of the Polarization and Social Change Laboratory at Stanford University, who studies the social forces that bring us together and drive us against one another, including gossip. Giving (and getting) feedback is hard. If knowledge is power, gossip is turbocharged power. Examining these three categories separately, they found that younger people tended to gossip more negatively than older people. We all know gossip to be a human universalbut does it get an undeservedly bad rap? A. Eur. The depth and elaboration of the encoding reflects variables such as distinctiveness, emotional impact, and duration. In contrast, relationship building (M = 3.16, SD = 1.70), protection (M = 3.10, SD = 1.58), and social enjoyment (M = 2.83, SD = 1.64) did not differ significantly from each other (ps = 0.351.0). Moreover, to create a concise measure three items were chosen from the respective subscale to represent the social enjoyment motive and the negative influence motive. There are other ways to do this, Im sure. Soc. Theory of mind and the evolution of language, in Approaches to the Evolution of Language, eds J. R. Hurford, M. Studdert-Kennedy, and C. Knight (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 92110. Struggling to Get Back Into a Workout Routine? Psychol. In other words, people without anything to do will eventually start talking about you. Pers. In private situations on the other hand, people are mostly unrestricted and have to comply with fewer norms or rules. To test differences in motives to talk about others, a 6 2 repeated measures ANOVA was conducted with both motives (i.e., information validation vs. information gathering vs. relationship building vs. protection vs. social enjoyment vs. negative influence) and situation (i.e., private vs. work) as within factors. For the Scriptures say, I will take revenge ;I will pay them back, says the Lord. Some people gossip to seek revenge. (2012). Manag. Chuck is impulsive, daring, and loves to take risks. Its something that comes very naturally to us an integral part of conversation, information sharing and even community building. Events that are unusual, dramatic, or lasting ensure that a rich representation is formed and are stored in the long-term memory. Eleven participants had missing values varying between 1.80 and 35.70%. Interestingly, the motivation to negatively influence the reputation of somebody else is not solely associated with narcissism but also with Machiavellianism. Validating and gathering information were the most important motives in the private and the work context. information, physical appearance, and achievement gossip in . Also, the p-value in classical analysis provides the information about the probability of obtaining results as least as extreme as those observed given that the null hypothesis is true; the alternative hypothesis is left unspecified (Wagenmakers et al., 2018b). 7 Ticking Time Bombs That Destroy Loving Relationships, An Addiction Myth That Needs to Be Revisited, 5 Spiritual Practices That Increase Well-Being. The researchers were also interested in understanding how people gossip. doi: 10.1016/B978-012134645-4/50027-5. Have We Turned Our Favorite Preachers and Teachers into Idols? In-depth interviews might uncover additional motives to exchange information about others. The standardized factor loadings for the six-factor model are presented separately in Figure 1 for both settings. Exp. Moreover, research on gossip networks within the work context shows that employees more often tend to gossip positively about colleagues than negatively (Ellwardt et al., 2012a). We tend to think of gossip as a negative behavior when, for instance, we tattle on someone or share information behind someone elses back that may show them in a bad light. Health Organ. 18, 574579. 19, 378394. Similarly, in the private setting, in 4 out of 6 analyses the BF10s are highest when the model includes only narcissism. Neurosci. To make it even more complicated, it is plausible to assume that people have different motives at the same time. Thus, higher values indicate higher degrees in the respective personality trait. Curious. doi: 10.1016/j.pmrj.2017.11.003, OBoyle, E. H., Forsyth, D. R., Banks, G. C., and Mcdaniel, M. A. The jealous gossip is perhaps the most common gossip. Sci. To fill this void, there is nothing else he can find worth doing apart from yapping and gossiping about other people with the ultimate aim of gaining favours from those he is spreading gossip to. This unsolicited interference often manifests as questions and comments relating to our personal matters such as our health, career, and relationships. Constructing Reality and Its Alternatives: An Inclusion/ Exclusion Model of Assimilation and Contrast Effects in Social Judgment (ZUMA-Arbeitsbericht, 1991/05). Thinking About Answers: The Application of Cognitive Processes to Survey Methodology. One might assume that individuals scoring higher on narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy are more likely unconcerned with moral considerations and driven by selfish reasons when engaging in gossip, consequently, contributing to the negative reputation of gossip. Psychol. Individ. They may call, text, or ask to hang out frequently.