The gossip is present in all of us and in each culture “: why do human beings gossip according to evolving experts

Chillones semitone lips. Illustration of gossip at work.

- Author, Writing
- Author's title, BBC News
2 hours

You can ruin your reputation. You can justify your behavior. He is entertaining. And for many it is a sin.

Gossip (gossip or chusmear, as is also said in some countries in Latin America) is a behavior that anthropologists have observed in many cultures, from urban settlements to the farthest rural populations.

“The gossip is present in all of us and in each culture when appropriate circumstances occur,” explains to the BBC Nicole Hagen Hess, Professor of Anthropology at the Washington State University in the US.

When we think of gossip, we can think about the image of a person speaking behind others with bad intentions. But for HESS it is somewhat broader.

Gossip is an exchange of “relevant information for reputation.”

That can mean what friends, family, colleagues or even rivals say about us, but also includes what is said in the news or in a sporting event.

“Under my definition, the absence of a third or of the person you are speaking is not needed, you can be quietly in front of you,” he explains.

“If you are talking about that person, whether about their clothing or what he has done, he tells how to gossip,” he adds.

But, why humans have reached this type of behavior is a question that researchers want to answer. These can be some clues.

Tie

The idea that gossip can have a positive role in society was popularized by academic Robin Dunbar, a British anthropologist.

According to his theory, in primates, cleaning is a hygienic, but also social behavior. Together with creating links, it can also be used for reconciliations after fights, dilute tensions and establish the position of each of the primates in the social hierarchy.

This process is known as “social grooming” (allogrooming in English).

But since humans do not have hair like that of primates, gossip and light conversations can be the human equivalents of this “social grooming”, which has the same purpose of creating links, establishing the place in the social hierarchy and exchanging information about others, such as for example in whom to trust and who does not.

For Dunbar, language even evolved to allow people to gossip.

Two men talk to each other in an office while two women in the background are concentrated on the screens of their computers, working. — Photo foot, When we think of gossip, we often imagine speaking behind someone with malicious intentions.

In 2021, a study by the University of Dartmouth in the US revealed that people who glue together, in addition to influencing the other, also joins more in the process.

“We speculate that the participants of this study established a sense of community among them, creating a 'shared reality' that served to influence the behavior and perspectives of each one, while satisfying the inherent desire of each one of having a social connection,” you can read in the investigation.

This research also discovered that gossip helps promote cooperation within a group, after observing that the participants were willing to contribute more money in a group game when they had the opportunity to gossip among them.

“The gossip is not a monolithic construction and its definition is much more complex and goes beyond that it is simply to speak badly of the other as we have learned,” concludes the investigation.

Kelsey McKinney, founder of the Normal Gossip podcast in which common and currents share their gossip, knows how an anecdote with content can put several strangers together.

When the Covid-19 pandemic began and people had to be locked up, the need for stories became bigger.

“I realized that we were hungry,” McKinney explains.

“Much of our lives and how we perceive the world is through the narrative we tell ourselves and gossip is the narrative. We tell ourselves among us, and of course there is danger, but there are also many good things,” he adds.

Survival

Humans have evolved for millions of years to learn what is the best way to protect us from potential damage or danger.

For some women, gossip is a vital tool to survive, particularly when navigating threats as a risky situation in an appointment.

Two young women were sitting in front of the other on one table, gossiping and laughing. — Photo foot, Whether it is fun, survival or social ties, gossip has become a constant characteristic of our lives.

“Women are in a physical disadvantage situation when it comes to fighting with a man. That is an important information that you want to share with your friends or your closest allies,” HESS explains.

Survival and our place in society also depends a lot on reputation.

Having a bad reputation can be devastating, says the expert.

According to her, you can damage your social position, limit your economic opportunities and even affect your access to resources such as food.

“If people speak negatively in gossip on you, it can cause substantial damage,” says HESS.

It also argues that gossip is a social form of control used to maintain or improve the position in a social hierarchy.

For her, people try to handle how they are perceived in their social environments, so they wake up with each other through the gossip.

And he adds that gossip also serves to protect his own reputation and, in some cases, undermine the rivals.

“Humans are competitive by nature with other members of their species and the conflict is not something that will be released,” he explains.

Entertainment

For most people, gossip may seem harmless.

“That is the type of gossip in which I specialize,” says the podcaster McKinney.

His fascination with this issue, and his passion for telling stories, comes from having grown up in a religious home where he was taught that the gossip was sinful.

“A good gossip is something that immediately comes out of your mouth and tells it to another person,” he argues.

“My God! How boring!” He replies laughing.

Whether due to fun, survival or social ties, gossip has become a constant in our lives: a “human universal” that should not be ignored, says Dr. HESS.

“The gossip has real consequences,” he explains. “If only an informal, random and false conversation would not affect the way people decide to distribute benefits to other members of their communities.”