Apr 9, 2009 03:20 PM in Mind & Brain | 4 comments
Pssst: Gossip hurts--but friends can protect you from the worst of it
By Kate Wong
CHICAGO--Think a little gossip is harmless? Beware: new research says gossiping can be a form of warfare in which information is used as a weapon that could potentially damage a competitor's reputation. An effective defense, according to the study released here last week at the annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists: friends.
Study author Nicole Hess, an evolutionary psychologist at Washington State University in Vancouver, says she instructed 500 subjects to imagine that they were competing for a promotion within a corporation. She then had them read a list of positive and negative statements, or “gossip,” about their rival for the promotion, and asked them how likely they would be to relay each tidbit to others in the office.
Hess found that participants tended to spread more of the negative comments when she raised the stakes by increasing the salary or decreasing the number of promotions available. But, she says, they were less likely to denigrate their competitor when told their opponent had a pal in the company.
In addition to supporting the idea that people use gossip strategically, Hess's findings indicate that having an ally within the community deters negative gossip. The reason, she speculates: your friend will be in the know and may be able to help you use retaliatory gossip to thwart attacks. (The protective effect of having an ally in the office did not result from making the competitor seem more likeable: participants did not hold back on spreading nasty gossip when they were told that a rival had a friend in the neighborhood, rather than in the office.)
Scientists have theorized that women dish more than men do, but Hess found that the sexes were equally willing to badmouth to get a leg up on the competition. She therefore suspects that a tendency to gossip depends more on the situation than on the gender of the busybody. It may be, however, that women more often than men find themselves in situations in which gossiping pays off.
Hess surmises that informational warfare may be more effective in intra-group competitions, whereas physical warfare works better between groups. If so, and if, as some research suggests, women face more competition within groups than men do, then women "should be more inclined to gossip competitively about group members," she says.
One reason women may experience more competition within groups, she says, is because in many societies they are more likely to join their mate's group when they marry – and may then have to compete with women in that new group.
Image courtesy of bobbieo via iStockphoto
Read More About: anthropology, gossipYou Might Also Like
Discuss This Article
Subscription Center
Most Popular Blog Posts
9,000-year-old brew hitting the shelves this summer
New solar-cell efficiency record set
AIDS vaccine surprises scientists, proves partially successful
Is birth control the answer to environmental ills?
Editor's Pick
-
Adapting to the Freshwater CrisisForward-thinking experts are getting a better handle on the growing global water shortage and coming up with innovative approaches to ensuring the security, safety and sustainability of this resource
Mind & Brain Newsletter
Get weekly coverage delivered to your inboxPodcasts
-
60-Second Psych
RSS ·
iTunes
The Roots of Language
click to enable
-
60-Second Science
RSS ·
iTunes
Plants Share Light If Neighbor Is Related
click to enable
Slideshows
Getting It Wrong: Surprising Tips on How to Learn
Ability to Guess Others' Thoughts Tied to Language Proficiency
Secrets of the Phallus: Why Is the Penis Shaped Like That?
Foreign Afflictions: Mental Disorders across Country Borders
Fight to protect California condors from lead ammunition moves to Arizona
Circulation of LHC Beams Could Resume in Earnest over the Weekend
Measuring Up: New NIST Director, Plus Big Budget Put Measurement Science in Public Eye
How Long Can a Nuclear Reactor Last?
What to Do About Endocrine Disruptors? A Q&A with Linda Birnbaum



