Perception of those who gossip[edit]

Individuals who are perceived to engage in gossiping regularly are seen as having less social power
and being less liked. The type of gossip being exchanged also affects likeability whereby those who
[37]
engage in negative gossip are less liked than those who engage in positive gossip.
In a study
done by Turner and colleagues (2003), having a prior relationship with a gossiper were not found to
protect the gossiper from less favorable personality ratings after gossip was exchanged. In the study,
two individuals were brought in to the research lab to participate. Either the two individuals were
friends prior to the study or they were strangers scheduled to participate at the same time. One of
the individuals was a confederate of the study and they engaged in gossiping about the research
assistant after she left the room. The gossip exchanged was either positive or negative. Regardless
of gossip type (positive versus negative) or relationship type (friend versus stranger) the gossipers
[38]
were rated as less trustworthy after sharing the gossip.
[39]

Block has suggested that while gossip and blackmail both involve the disclosure of unflattering
information, the blackmailer is arguably ethically superior to the gossip.
Block writes, "In a sense, the gossip is much worse than the blackmailer, for the blackmailer has
given the blackmailed a chance to silence him. The gossip exposes the secret without warning." The
victim of a blackmailer is thus offered choices denied to the subject of gossip, such as deciding if the
exposure of his or her secret is worth the cost the blackmailer demands. Moreover, in refusing a
blackmailer's offer one is in no worse a position than with the gossip. Adds Block, "It is indeed
difficult, then, to account for the vilification suffered by the blackmailer, at least compared to the
gossip, who is usually dismissed with slight contempt and smugness."

See also[edit]

Altruism
Bullying
Blind Item
Circle of Friends
Communication in small groups
Curiosity
False dilemma
Gossip magazines
Impression management
Interpersonal relationship
Libel
Misinformation
Personal network
Popularity
Respectability
Rumor
Scandal
Sexual selection in human evolution
Social perception
Social status
Word of mouth
Yenta

References[edit]

Jump up^ "Gossip - Define Gossip at Dictionary.com". Dictionary.com.

ab

^ Jump up to: McAndrew, Frank T. (October 2008). "The Science of Gossip: Why
we can't stop ourselves". Scientific American.

Jump up^ Sommerfeld RD, Krambeck HJ, Semmann D, Milinski M. (2007). Gossip
as an alternative for direct observation in games of indirect reciprocity. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S
A. 104(44):17435-40. PMID 17947384

Jump up^ Dunbar RI. (2004). Gossip in evolutionary perspective. Review of general
psychology 8: 100-110. abstract

Jump up^ "How to Deal with Gossip and Rumors on Social Media - LEWIS PR".
lewispr.com.

Jump up^ OED

Jump up^ "If Walls Could Talk: The History of the Home (Bedroom), Lucy Worsley,
BBC"

Jump up^ Abercrombie, Nicholas (2004). Sociology: A Short Introduction. Short

Introductions. Cambridge: Polity Press. pp. 122152. ISBN 074562541X. [...] I described a
study of the role of gossip in controlling the lives of young people in a London Punjabi
community. Gossip is effectively a device for the assertion and maintenance of the background
assumptions about the way that a community lives its life.
ab

^ Jump up to: Jeanne Grunert, "When Gossip Strikes," OfficePro,

January/February 2010, pp. 16-18, at 17, found at IAAP