Summary
Gossip often has negative connotations, but does it get a bad rap? Might it serve a useful function and should we think of gossiping as an advanced social skill rather than a personality defect? CrowdScience listener Jayogi thinks it might be useful, and has asked CrowdScience to dig into the reasons why we find it so hard to resist salacious stories.
Presenter Datshiane Navanayagam meets a scientist who views gossip as a key evolutionary adaption - as humans started to live in bigger cooperative groups, gossiping was a way of bonding and establishing acceptable group behaviour as well as cementing reputations of trustworthiness.
Datshiane heads to the local park to catch some real gossiping in action and finds out that whilst people like to gossip they don’t consider themselves gossipers.
Datshi asks a team of scientists what information we are most keen to share and glean in these interactions and if there is such a thing as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ gossip. She hears that in some group settings – like in the workplace - gossip can enhance cooperation and limit free-riders, but that it can also have a more self-serving dark side.
Datshiane finds out if our stone-age gossipy minds are fit to operate in the world of mass communication and social media – is our fixation on celebrities related to our being hard wired to gossip?
Presenter: Datshiane Navanayagam Producer: Melanie Brown
[Image: Gossiping people. Credit: Getty Images]
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Take some time for yourself with soothing classical music from the mindful mix, the Science of |
| 0:07.0 | Happiness Podcast. |
| 0:08.0 | For the last 20 years I've dedicated my career to exploring the science of living a happier more meaningful life and I want |
| 0:14.4 | to share that science with you. |
| 0:16.1 | And just one thing, deep calm with Michael Mosley. |
| 0:19.4 | I want to help you tap in to your hidden relaxation response system and open the door to that |
| 0:25.5 | calmer place within. Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:29.7 | We are going to have a gossip today. |
| 0:35.0 | We love a gossip. |
| 0:38.0 | We have done some gossip. |
| 0:40.0 | We have done gossing. Gossip. Gossip. Tittle Tattle, dishing the dirt, muck-breaking, back biting. |
| 0:51.0 | Nowadays, this kind of talk tends to have negative connotations. |
| 0:56.8 | Even our ancestors cautioned against it. The Bible warned us about tattlers and busybodies, whilst the Quran tells people to weigh up the truth |
| 1:05.4 | when someone comes with news of others, in case you hurt someone unwittingly. |
| 1:10.7 | One town in the Philippines even tried to outlaw gossip only a few years ago, but is banning |
| 1:16.9 | gossip even possible and has gossip been unfairly maligned? |
| 1:22.2 | Could it in fact even play a useful role in society? Should we be celebrating |
| 1:27.8 | gossipers? On this week's crowd science, the show that answers your science questions, we are getting gossipy with this listener. |
| 1:36.8 | I'm Jayogi from Sri Lanka residing in Oman. My question is, why do we humans like to gossip? So why are you |
| 1:47.0 | curious about it? Recently my boss had a discussion with our, staff members, and one of the things that he said to us was that, |
| 1:58.0 | please do not gossip. I felt that this is like somebody asking a fish not to swim. |
| 2:06.1 | You think we can't help but gossip then? |
... |
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