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In Brief
- In recent years researchers have turned to the study of gossip—our predilection for talking about people who are not present. Why is news about others so irresistible?
- As it turns out, gossip serves a useful social function in bonding group members together. In the distant past, when humans lived in small bands and meeting strangers was a rare occurrence, gossip helped us survive and thrive.
- Our modern-day infatuation with celebrities reveals the ancient evolutionary psychology of gossip in sharp relief: anyone whom we see that often and know that well becomes socially important to us.
In the past few years I have heard more people than ever before puzzling over the 24/7 coverage of people such as Paris Hilton who are “celebrities” for no apparent reason other than we know who they are. And yet we can’t look away. The press about these individuals’ lives continues because people are obviously tuning in. Although many social critics have bemoaned this explosion of popular culture as if it reflects some kind of collective character flaw, it is in fact nothing more than the inevitable outcome of the collision between 21st-century media and Stone Age minds.
When you cut away its many layers, our fixation on popular culture reflects an intense interest in the doings of other people; this preoccupation with the lives of others is a by-product of the psychology that evolved in prehistoric times to make our ancestors socially successful. Thus, it appears that we are hardwired to be fascinated by gossip.
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4 Comments
Add CommentGossiping is a part of our culture it is basically hardwired into us.(gossiping) is a survival skill. Part of our protection of individuals members or cliques. Gossiping should be treated as our appendix is attached to our bowels useless but needed for survival.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPeople use gossip to warn people about other people even if it is true or not. Sometimes people are afriad of differnet people or use gossip to get back at people in a way that is safe for the gossip . The casn use gossip as a form of negative control. Find out what realy pisses you off and tell thier buddies about it. Use it as a way to gain power of the victim.
Gossiping can become worse witch hunting or lyncing or acts like the holocost.
People love to hear about others problems even when true or false. People are glad the gossip is not about them. The good news is gossip is ultimatly self defeating . Gossips are found out but many many lives are rueined.
We are social creatures like wolves. We hunt in packs to weaken individuals (to see if they are fit) and either physically or pschologyical try to over power individuals (who are weak) and take them down. Gossip is an easy way to take out someone through either the rumor mill or informal communications channel. What risk is it to say someone in front of a school is a child molester when it can be false? If the person is making the accusation and is told by some one else (who appears) to be reliable who are they to question its source? When it is found the information is false or misleading is that person punished or corrected of coarse not. They want to escape the penalties of their own actions. Gossip is therefore one of the best methods to hurt your opponent. The person who acted on the information is too scared to confess it. Another round won for gossip.
With high technology guess what we can gossip to all parts of the world even parts of Antarctica, earth orbit & beyond about our petty struggles which in the end don't matter at all. Technology has made it possible to completely destroy individuals with gossip.
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O no,another natural selection.could DARWIN be forgetten by us
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisgossip is fun
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCUUUL N SO TRUE
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