personality traits of a gossip personality traits of a gossip

Faced with the concern that information about negative behavior runs through the grapevine and may consequently lead to the loss of reputation or even social exclusion, it prevents people from acting against social norms and the good of the group (Piazza and Bering, 2008; Beersma and Van Kleef, 2011; Feinberg et al., 2014; Wu et al., 2016). The German version of the extended Motives to Gossip Questionnaire is displayed in the Appendix. Thus, when focusing on gossipers' intentions, a rather positive picture of gossip is painted. Bonferroni adjusted post-hoc analysis revealed that information validation (M = 4.68, SD = 1.59), information gathering (M = 3.92, SD = 1.65) as well as negative influence (M = 2.14, SD = 1.26) differed significantly from all other motives (ps < 0.001, respectively). To examine whether the importance of motives depends on the gossiper's personality, multiple regression analyses were conducted for both work and private situations. Bad habit or social good? Soc. Sometimes jealous gossip stems from wanting to be right, or best, or number one. Morf, C. C., and Rhodewalt, F. (2001). Eleven participants had missing values varying between 1.80 and 35.70%. The three items were chosen based on consideration about the content and wording as well as on factor loadings obtained through a pre-study (N = 45). Additionally, we studied the importance of gossip motivations in different contexts of social life (private and work-related). Relat. The majority were employed (employed, n = 85), n = 44 were students, n = 3 were retired, n = 1 were in apprenticeship, and n = 1 was unemployed. Specifically, they estimate that the average person spends 52 minutes per day gossiping. Striving for truth in our relationships with others shows we care about their desires and choices. Thus, gossip activity highly depends on organizational and occupational features. As individuals scoring high on narcissism are characterized by a grandiose (and sometimes vulnerable) self-concept that causes them to search for external appreciation (Morf and Rhodewalt, 2001; Jones and Paulhus, 2011; Back et al., 2013), one might speculate that gossip is a low risk method to gain information about the self. Whereas, individuals scoring high on psychopathy and Machiavellianism pursue goals of a concrete, instrumental nature, individuals scoring high on narcissism aim for goals that are of an abstract, symbolic nature (Jones and Paulhus, 2011, p. 258). More specifically, respondents may deliberately ignore information that has already been provided in response to previous question (Schwarz and Bless, 1991; Schwarz et al., 1991; Schwarz, 1999). Pers. Different researchers then add a range of stipulations, such as: The conversation takes place in private. Social media is an ideal platform for gossip. No one is benefiting., Theres also a physiological distinction to be drawn between active and passive participation in gossip. This reaction also occurred when the participants heard negative gossip in general. doi: 10.1086/269239, Semenyna, S. W., and Honey, P. L. (2015). 8, 231246. Schwarz, N., and Bless, H. (1992). doi: 10.1177/1059601112450607, Farley, S. D. (2011). The depth and elaboration of the encoding reflects variables such as distinctiveness, emotional impact, and duration. Jonason, P. K., Lyons, M., Baughman, H. M., and Vernon, P. A. Missing data: our view of the state of the art. Gossip as an alternative for direct observation in games of indirect reciprocity. Assuming that gossip is a soft tactic or a form of indirect aggression (McAndrew, 2014), one might speculate more narcissistic individuals to be especially prone to use these methods in order to manipulate others while maintaining their social standing. (2009). Hum. Dif. Cliques, rumors, and gossip by the water cooler: female bullying in the workplace. Informed consent was provided by ticking a box indicating comprehension of instruction and agreement that their data is used for scientific purposes. Individ. Taken together, the BF10s in the work setting showed that in 5 out of 6 analyses the BF10s are highest when the models include only narcissism. For example, if they are talkative at home, they tend also to be talkative at work. Psychol. We all know gossip to be a human universalbut does it get an undeservedly bad rap? Violent Behav. Therefore, one might assume that there was no need for socially desirable responding. I dont want to gossip to the Pastor. It never occurred to any of them they were gossiping to everyone but the Pastor! The receiver listens, then begins a response with, "Yes, and.". Also, relationship building shows consistent positive associations with narcissism. Were we not able to engage in discussions of these [social and personal] issues, we would not be able to sustain the kinds of societies that we do, she explained in a 2003 paper published in the Review of General Psychology. Social Beings: A Core Motives Aaproach to Social Psychology. Its something that comes very naturally to us an integral part of conversation, information sharing and even community building. A good gossiper is someone who people trust with information and someone who uses that information in a responsible way. regular fantasies about personal power, intelligence, success, or attractiveness. J. Appl. If youre doing it for your own personal gain, dont, Willer says. The study conforms with the Declaration of Helsinki and the ethics guidelines of the German Psychological Society. The findings suggest that the negative reputation of gossip is not justified. (2015). Not one person with firsthand knowledge ever contacted my husband. The Dirty Dozen aims to capture the core aspects which are the grandiose self-view for narcissism, exploitation of others for Machiavellianism and the callousness for psychopathy (Kfner et al., 2014). Personal. Pers. This indicates that that the data are 4.48 1082 times more likely under the model that assumes differences between motives than under the model that assumes no such differences. Replicating previous research, the results show that motives were seen as differentially important (Beersma and Van Kleef, 2012). Examining these three categories separately, they found that younger people tended to gossip more negatively than older people. Gen. Psychol. They often come across as too clingy. (2014). Gossip. London: faber and faber. Dif. In contrast to our expectation, we did not find any negative relationship between the dark triad and the protection motive. Thus, gossip keeps people from acting against the good of the group and fosters cooperation. There are no gender effects for narcissism (women M = 4.33, SD = 2.07 vs. men M = 4.73, SD = 1.68; t(132) = 1.19, p = 0.24, Cohen's d = 0.21) and Machiavellianism (women M = 3.30, SD = 1.72 vs. men M = 3.54, SD = 1.88; t(132) = 0.76, p = 0.45, Cohen's d = 0.13). For example, if theres someone who cheats a lot in a community or social circle and people start to talk about that person in a negative way, says Robbins, the collective criticism should warn others of the consequences of cheating. And the threat of gossip deters bad behavior in the first place as people seek to avoid developing a bad reputation.. Thus, there is much more research needed to uncover the complex interrelations between the diverse motives and social functions. Furthermore, the present study took the challenge of assessing gossip motivation and the dark triad personality traits in a non-student sample. Figure 1. Encourage them to find a healthy balance between pushing themselves and making mistakes. Taken together, the results suggest that gossip is better than its reputation as people report to mainly use gossip for informational reasons and not to ruin the reputation of others. The Bless Your Heart gossip shares juicy pieces of information, but tags on the line, bless his/her heart as a way of appearing compassionate and caring, when, in fact, they are neither compassionate nor caring. By definition (at least the definition social scientists who study gossip use), gossip is any talk about someone who isnt present, its usually about something we can make a moral judgment about (meaning you tend to approve of the information or disapprove), and its entertaining (meaning it doesnt feel like work to do it; you tend to want to share or hear the information), McAndrew explains. Foster, E. K. (2004). However, we can take some cues from these fictional people and their character traits in order to achieve our own goals. Article Images Copyright , How to Biblically Celebrate New Life in the Spring, California - Do Not Sell My Personal Information. 18, 574579. Groomin, Gossip and the Evolution of Language. Concerns about reputation via gossip promote generous allocations in an economic game. Psychol. Evol. He or she can feel your joys and sorrows and react accordingly to it. You have reached your limit of 4 free articles. Matthew Feinberg, an assistant professor of organizational behavior at the University of Torontos Rotman School of Management, and his colleagues explored this in a 2012 study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. In addition, we extended the questionnaire by widening the number of possible reasons including gossiping in order to foster relationship building and to gather social information. It works like this: Susans a super star with her clients. Instead of sharing a prayer request you havent been asked to share, simply pray. (1985). Accordingly, important social functions have been postulated for gossip in science (e.g., Foster, 2004). Child Dev. Or Did you know? Likewise, individuals might use gossip in order to negatively influence the reputation of a target person, and, without intention, simultaneously serve the social function of group protection. Dark and immoral: the links between pathological personality features and moral values. They also found that people high in the personality traits of extraversion and agreeableness tended to gossip more than others. Torres research has found that gossip can stave off loneliness, while other studies have found it can facilitate bonding and closeness and serve as a form of entertainment. Here's how. How Psychologically Conditioned Rats Are Defusing Landmines, The Innate Intelligence Observed in the Dying Process. Thus, unusual or emotional arousing gossip events might be remembered easily whereas irregular but frequent and relatively unimportant gossip events are not retrieved easily and perhaps forgotten entirely (Sudman et al., 1996; Tourangeau, 2000). Pers. Exploring Statistical Analysis Using JASP: Frequentist and Bayesian Approaches. 78, 221236. Individ. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2014.07.019, Baumeister, R. F. (1997). 88, 7377. Accordingly, more narcissistic individuals have a higher need for a superior identity. Pers. No significant main effect for the factor situation was yielded indicating that the importance of motives was comparable for private and work-related situations, F(1, 133) = 2.94, p = 0.09, P2 = 0.02. To distinguish between information gathering and information validation, three new items were generated to capture information gathering; three items of the information gathering and validation subscale were chosen to represent information validation. I just hope her new job doesnt affect her family. Boredom-driven gossip is nothing new. Tourangeau, R. (2000). Your sister just got a tattoo thats going to make your parents flip out. The DSM-5 lists nine key narcissistic traits: exaggerated feelings of superiority and self-importance. Denken Sie an eine vergangene Situation in Ihrem privaten Alltag, in der Sie Teil eines solchen Gesprchs (ber eine abwesende Person) waren. When we notice something unjust in the world, our natural instinct as a Libra is to want to correct it, to create balance and harmony. Behav. It's important that psychologists understand a patient's emotional pain and to show compassion. Psychol. Gossiping with a person in order to warn that person of a target person appears not to spur gossip for any of the dark personalities. Necessary, even? Unlike Beersma and Van Kleef (2012), we asked the participants to think about a situation in a work setting as well as in a private context. Relatsh. In accordance with the national and institutional guidelines, ethical approval was not required for this study. If anything, the results suggest the opposite. doi: 10.1177/0146167208320061, Carpenter, C. J. The ones who werent interested in the goings on of other people sort of got weeded out.. Psychol. Hartung, F.-M., and Renner, B. Pers. Can Humans Detect Text by AI Chatbot GPT? doi: 10.1080/10887150902886423, De Backer, C. J., Nelissen, M., Vyncke, P., Braeckman, J., and Mcandrew, F. T. (2007). You feel violated and resentful. In both domains the importance of motives mainly depends on the narcissism of the gossiper whereas psychopathy appears to be irrelevant for gossip motivation. In such a scenario, youre not learning anything, Robbins adds. People like to gossip. (2019). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Moreover, to create a concise measure three items were chosen from the respective subscale to represent the social enjoyment motive and the negative influence motive. Is obsessed with fantasies of unlimited success, fame, fearsome power or omnipotence, 15. 13, 135150. Dif. Most start with the same basic idea: Gossip is a conversation between two people that concerns a third person who is not present. The study provides initial evidence that people primarily gossip to gain information about other people and not to harm others (Beersma and Van Kleef, 2012). Spontaneous "let's hang out" invitations. Gossip runs like a thread through our social world. Such individuals are often in a state of depression and do not know how to enjoy life. J. Pers. Six distinct motives were identified that underlie gossip behavior: information validation, information gathering, relationship building, protection, social enjoyment, and negative influence. In the study, participants were divided into subgroups, and then each person was given a number of points representing small sums of money. Personality traits are small, simple ways to help you set your character apart from every other character. The act of gossiping, Feinberg explains, helps calm the body.. But researchers often define it more broadly: as "talking about. 74:1197. doi: 10.1037//0022-3514.74.5.1197, Peng, X., Li, Y., Wang, P., Mo, L., and Chen, Q. Jonason and Schmitt (2012) argued that being surrounded by a lot of (potential) friends is a way to satisfy the continuous need for self-validation; likewise, it may serve the need for external self-affirmation and appreciationyou need audience when you want to shine on stage (Morf and Rhodewalt, 2001). Scold them a little and you might just have tears streaming down their tiny little faces. Pers. Sign up for our weekly newsletters and get: By signing in, you agree to our Terms and Conditions Bless her heart. My neighbor will sure have her hands full with another baby on the way, so close to the youngest. (2018). These three traits are summarized under the umbrella term dark triad and gained considerable attention in the past years (Jones and Paulhus, 2011; OBoyle et al., 2012; Furnham et al., 2013; Jones and Figueredo, 2013; Lee et al., 2013; Book et al., 2015; Muris et al., 2017). They also found that people with higher incomes tended to gossip more neutrally than people with lower incomes. 5 Steps to Hacking Your Character Traits. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9299.2007.00665.x, Lyons, M. T., and Hughes, S. (2015). doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2006.00109.x, Buffardi, L. E., and Campbell, W. K. (2008). Curiosity and control: on the determinants of the search for social knowledge. At the very least, it might make for an interesting conversation the next time you're at the water cooler. doi: 10.1111/spc3.12018, Grosser, T. J., Lopez-Kidwell, V., and Labianca, G. (2010). Taken together, both the classical repeated ANOVA and the Bayesian repeated ANOVA show that the motives factor is most meaningful in explaining the data. doi: 10.1037/1089-2680.8.2.78, Foster, J. D., and Trimm, R. F. (2008). The models predicting information validation (BF10 = 6.09), relationship building (BF10 = 25.36), and negative influence (BF10 = 123.43) show moderate to extreme evidence for the H1 indicating that the data are more likely under the model assuming associations between the three personality traits and the respective gossip motive than under the model assuming no association. Even though the friend you meet for lunch after this happens has never met that coworker, you still tell that friend all the reasons your colleague didnt deserve the new position.). Which means they gossip. The Bayesian analysis has several advantages over classical statistical inference (e.g., van de Schoot et al., 2013; Wagenmakers et al., 2018b) such as less susceptibility to small sample size (van de Schoot et al., 2013). Characteristics of gossips are: insecurity, jealous of others, low self esteem, angry at the world, have too much idle time on their hands, usually don't have any hobbies or activities they could be doing instead of rumor mongering, unhappy with their lives, don't like to see other people happy, attention seekers, like giving the illusion that 2023 LoveToKnow Media. Psychol. Therefore, simply gathering and validating social information might be another salient reason for dark personalities to gossip. Everyone has that one amazing friend whos funny, smart, generous, and creative in fact, just being around them makes you feel funny, smart, generous, and creative too. Proverbs 11:13 says, A gossip goes around telling secrets, but those who are trustworthy can keep a confidence. The one thing we can know for sure about an in the know gossip, is that they are not trustworthy. The least important motive was harming the gossip target. The sensitive child feels everything. As the Lead Pastor, my husband began hearing second, third, and fourth-hand accounts of questionable behavior on the part of his associate. For instance, individuals scoring higher on the dark triad traits show a higher tendency to tell lies and to cheat than individuals scoring lower on these traits (Nathanson et al., 2006; Williams et al., 2010; Baughman et al., 2014; Jonason et al., 2014; Roeser et al., 2016; Muris et al., 2017). Workplace bullying in the public sector: understanding the racial dimension. Soc. A Harsh Spirit. Gossip is actually one of the societal forces that brings us together and helps maintain social order. Interestingly, the importance of motives mainly depends on the gossiper's narcissism both in work and in private settings. Tell me the gossip: the self-evaluative function of receiving gossip about others. Prayer request gossip hurts as much as any other type of gossipmaybe more. Participants were invited via e-mail to fill in an online questionnaire about communication at work. J. Talking about the boss: Effects of generalized and interpersonal trust on workplace gossip. Am. The ANOVA yielded a significant main effect for the factor motives, F(4.48, 665) = 61.54, p < 0.001, P2 = 0.32, indicating that motives were differentially important. (2016). To make it even more complicated, it is plausible to assume that people have different motives at the same time. Soc. Hum. Validating and gathering information were the most important motives in the private and the work context. Gossip on social media tends to be more harmful because the negative information has a wide audience and remains visible for a long time. The more narcissistic a person is, the more they tend to use gossip in order to validate information about others and also to gather information (at least in the work setting). Taken together, the present online study focuses on the reasons why people engage in conversations about absent third parties. Taken together, these studies and reviews illustrate that individuals scoring higher on the dark triad personality traits are willing to dismiss commonly accepted social norms and harm others for their own good. Sex Roles 12, 281286. Main Traits According to the DSM 1.Feels grandiose and self-important (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents to the point of lying, demands to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements) 2. | Filipinos have been described as friendly, outgoing, sensitive, easily offended, nosy, garrulous, direct, hospitable, feisty, irreverent, good natured, clever, witty, gregarious, happy, generous, easy to laugh, gracious, easy to befriend, casual, fun loving, sensitive and hospitable. First, gossip is an efficient means of gathering and disseminating information (Foster, 2004). Rev. In total, 40 employees from different companies in Germany were addressed. Brain Sci. And as word near-inevitably trickles back to source of said gossip, it can serve to keep people in check, morally speaking, Robbins adds. 67, 1116. Despite important social functions gossip has a rather negative reputation. Neurosci. J. Pers. affable. Psychol. Hearing information about others serves important social functions such as learning without direct interaction and observation. Peng et al. Gossip in the workplace and the implications for HR management: a study of gossip and its relationship to employee cynicism. Rev. Most people agree: Saying negative things about others is OK, but do not say anything bad about me. Spreading rumors and gossip is one of the main ways people cut another person's status, especially among girls. Pers. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. doi: 10.1177/009102609802700410, Crothers, L. M., Lipinski, J., and Minutolo, M. C. (2009). J. Hum. Human Evolutionary Psychology. The subscales exhibited satisfactory reliability in the present study with = 0.84 for narcissism, = 0.85 for Machiavellianism, and = 0.75 for psychopathy which is comparable to previous research (Kfner et al., 2014). People learn about the complex social and cultural life by hearing about the success and misadventures of others. Manag. BETSORTE GR N TIKLAYIN! Another way to explore whether the reputation of gossip is justified is to examine the gossip reasons of individuals scoring high on narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy. The dark triad personality traits were entered as independent variables and motives as dependent variables. It's a tricky phenomenon to study, though. (2018a), a BF > 100 shows extreme evidence for H1. Noticeably, the results revealed that the importance of motives mainly depends on the gossiper's narcissism both in work settings and in private settings. Why do other people have such a problem with it? Ways of explaining workplace bullying: a review of enabling, motivating and precipitating structures and processes in the work environment. The dark triad and framing effects predict selfish behavior in a one-shot prisoner's dilemma. Heres how to make sure youre gossiping in a responsible, trustworthy way: Whether youre gossiping in a responsible way or not is all a matter of when youre doing it and with whom youre sharing the information, McAndrew says. The aims of the present study are 2-fold. It's not inherently bad; and plays an important role in keeping our society connected. Also, the values of BFinclusion for situation (BFinclusion = 0.11), motives (BFinclusion = 3.00 1015), and situation*motives (BFinclusion = 4.84 103) show that the situation factor and the interaction only receive weak support. 37, 519547. Research on gossip: taxonomy, methods, and future directions. It is a meta-analysis of gossip as a behavior, not a study. However, the model that receives most support was the model containing the motives factor only (BF10 = 4.48 1082). Whereas, in private settings this motive appears to be more important for individuals scoring higher on narcissism than for those scoring lower on narcissism (p = 0.03), in work settings it appears to be more important for individuals scoring higher on Machiavellianism than for those scoring lower on Machiavellianism (p = 0.006). A close friend of Daisy Buchanan's, Jordan dates Nick Carraway during the novel and plays a crucial role in reuniting Daisy with the titular Jay Gatsby. Bivariate correlations between all variables are displayed in Table 1. Out of a Bad Heart Gossip arises when something has gone wrong with us at the worshiping core of our beings. Thus, if individuals with dark personalities regularly use gossip to spread negative information and harm others that would surely contribute to the negative reputation of gossip. (2018a). However, most people gossip because gossiping is enjoyable for the sense of power it gives them. Who Gossips and How in Everyday Life?. Considering the rather positive motives and social functions of gossip, it appears highly interesting why gossip is condemned so harshly. 25, 3557. RBum das Vertrauen der Person, mit der ich geredet habe, zu gewinnen. (2004b). The Dirty Dozen scale captures narcissism (e.g., I tend to want others to admire me.), Machiavellianism (e.g., I tend to manipulate others to get my way.), and psychopathy (e.g., I tend to be callous or insensitive.) with four items for each subscale. Who among us hasnt felt the need to vent frustration, hurt, or anger? doi: 10.1348/096317905X40817, Waddington, K., and Fletcher, C. (2005). The core of darkness: uncovering the heart of the Dark Triad. Means, standard deviation (in parenthesis), and error bars for the different motives displayed separately for work and private setting (N = 134).