COLLEGE PARK, MD — Many of us have encountered certain people who just can’t seem to keep secrets. Gossip is usually a dirty word among most social groups. Because no one wants their dirty laundry to be heard by everyone. Interestingly, however, researchers at the University of Maryland and Stanford University think that persistent chatter may not be worth avoiding after all. In fact, researchers argue that gossip may even benefit your social circle.
The researchers say gossip is defined as “the exchange of personal information about absent third parties” and can have “social benefits”. More specifically, this study suggests that gossip can be helpful in disseminating information about people’s reputations, potentially helping recipients of that information connect with more cooperative people while avoiding selfish ones. I discovered that there is.
“When people want to know if someone is a good person to interact with, if they can get information from gossip (assuming that information is honest), it can be very informative. “There’s a chance it could become a thing,” says study co-author Dana Nau. said the retired professor in UMD’s Department of Computer Science and Systems Research Institute in a media release.
These findings come from computer simulations aimed at solving long-standing mysteries in social psychology. In other words, how did gossip evolve into such a ubiquitous and popular pastime, transcending gender, age, culture, and socio-economic background?
“One previous study found that people spend an average of one hour per day talking about other people, which means this takes up a lot of time from our daily lives. ” explains Xinyue Pan (MS ’21, Ph.D.), lead author of the study. ’23, Psychology) and published part of this research in his master’s thesis. “That’s why it’s important to learn it.”
Previous research has shown that gossip can bring many people together and foster cooperation, but it remains unclear what actual gossipers gain from these interactions. It’s still there.
“This was a real puzzle,” added study co-author Michele Gelfand, a professor at Stanford Business School and professor emeritus in the UMD Department of Psychology. “It’s unclear why gossip, which requires considerable time and energy, evolved as an adaptive strategy in the first place.”
Moreover, it remains a mystery why recipients of gossip usually give sympathetic ears to gossipers or behave differently in their presence.
So, to address these gossip mysteries, researchers used an evolutionary game theory model that mimics human decision-making. By combining the tenets of evolutionary biology and game theory, the research team is able to observe how hypothetical “agents” interact and change strategies to receive rewards. I did.
The study authors hoped to gain valuable insight into whether agents use gossip to protect themselves or to exploit others. During an investigation, agents may cooperate with the gossiper, defect, or even become the gossiper themselves. Agents were free to change their strategies after observing the outcomes and rewards of other agents’ decisions. At the end of the simulation, 90% of the agents’ girlfriends were gossipers.
Researchers argue that people tend to cooperate in the presence of famous gossips because they want to protect their reputation and avoid being the subject of gossip. On the other hand, for actual gossipers, receiving the cooperation of others may be a reward in itself.
“If you’re trying to be on your best behavior because other people know you’re gossiping, they’re more likely to cooperate with you on things,” commented Professor Nau. do. “The fact that you gossip ends up benefiting you as a gossiper. Then other people will find it rewarding too, so they won’t gossip. Become.”
The study authors argue that gossip proliferates because sharing information about the reputations of different people can have a “deterrence of self-interest” effect on recipients. In other words, people who listen to gossip condition their behavior on the reputations of others. This discourages people from selfish behavior because no one wants to be the subject of future gossip. Researchers say gossipers have an “evolutionary advantage” in perpetuating the gossip cycle and providing a beneficial service to their listeners, due to their ability to influence others and encourage cooperation. ing.
While there is no doubt that gossip has negative social connotations, Pan emphasizes that the information shared by gossipers can be complementary. Regardless of the content, gossip serves a useful purpose.
“Both positive and negative gossip are important because gossip plays an important role in sharing information about people’s reputations,” said Pan, who is currently an assistant professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in Shenzhen. “When people have this information, cooperative people can find other good people to cooperate with, and this is actually beneficial to the group. So gossip isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s a positive It might be something.”
The simulation also considered various factors that promote or inhibit the spread of gossip. This confirmed what past research had already shown. So small-town gossip isn’t just a movie metaphor.
“Consistent with research on rural areas, this model highlights situations in which more gossip is expected to occur, especially when social network connectivity is high and mobility is low.” Professor Gelfand points out. “It gives us a clue as to the circumstances in which gossip may be more or less prevalent.”
Professor Nau says their research does not cover the full range of human complexity, nor can it replace behavioral research. Nevertheless, computer simulations may generate useful new theories that will stimulate follow-up studies involving human participants.
“Humans are so complex that we cannot, nor would we want to, come up with a simulation that does all the things that humans do,” Professor Nau added. “While this is an oversimplification and we cannot definitively say that this is the way people behave, it does provide insight. These can lead to scientific hypotheses that can be investigated through research involving human participants. It may be possible to connect.”
In the future, the researchers hope to conduct a follow-up study aimed at testing one of the simulation’s predictions on human participants. The idea that gossip is effective when there are no other ways to gather information about other people’s reputations.
“For me, that’s one of the really exciting parts of this research,” concludes Professor Nau. “If you can formulate a hypothesis and then test the predictions of that model in human studies, that’s what makes this kind of thing useful.”
Overall, the study authors say there is one thing they can already say with confidence: That said, based on the overwhelming number of gossipers in simulations and real life, gossip isn’t going away anytime soon.
This research Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
