Me. Welcome to the You Are Not So Smart Podcast.

Episode 193. Oh, oh, oh, oh. And, um, and, uh, and, uh, This is a

This is one of those episodes. There's just one long

Freewheeling conversation with an expert on a topic and that topic is gossip and the expert is Rob Willer the psychologist who has been on the show several times he's in the brain trust if you

are not so smart I often reach out to him even outside of the show to

understand things when I'm trying to research or understand a topic that I know he is

an expert in and his most recent research was related to pluralistic ignorance and that was the episode he was most recently in.

I love that episode. That is my favorite episode I've done of the show so far and he was crucial to the understanding of that topic.

And when we talk about stuff, we often... far and he was crucial to the understanding of that topic.

And when we talk about stuff,

we often talk about the research that he used to do.

About 10 years ago, he was researching gossip

and its function in both one human brain and in groups how we use it to keep up with the

reputations of people within our social networks, how we use it to solve problems and thrive and

cooperate and overcome selfish urges and establish trust,

break trust, how we make sure we don't get a trade

or heard or taken advantage of,

and how we help others also make sure they don't get betrayed or heard are taken advantage of by trading information about one another's reputations,

what people have and have not done in our presence and in the presence of others that we feel are trusted members of our community,

people we love and care about. And he likes to say, imagine a world without gossip. How would we keep up with the social dynamics?

How would we keep up with the social dynamics? How would we keep up with the flow and the

flux and the evolving landscape of our reputations among one another? Who can and

...