Gossip as Cultural Learning
Abstract
To complement views of gossip as essentially a means of gaining information about individuals, cementing social bonds, and engaging in indirect aggression, the authors propose that gossip serves to help people learn about how to live in their cultural society. Gossip anecdotes communicate rules in narrative form, such as by describing how someone else came to grief by violating social norms. Gossip is thus an extension of observational learning, allowing one to learn from the triumphs and misadventures of people beyond one's immediate perceptual sphere. This perspective helps to explain some empirical findings about gossip, such as that gossip is not always derogatory and that people sometimes gossip about strangers.
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Stories enable people to mentalize experiences without ever having the actual social referents.
“Stories enable people to mentalize these experiences without ever having the actual social referents (Bandura, 2006; Baumeister et al., 2004).”
From Stories in Action. (2022) · cites this paper as Baumeister et al., 2004
Stories extend social learning by enabling people to learn from others without directly observing the behavior.
“Stories extend social learning by enabling people to learn from others without directly observing the behavior (Baumeister et al., 2004).”
From Stories in Action. (2022) · cites this paper as Baumeister et al., 2004
People also learn how to interact through stories they hear as children, gossip, and mass media.
“People also learn how to interact through the stories they hear as children from their parents, through the gossip heard about how others behave, and through the stories in mass media (Baumeister et al., 2004; Swidler, 1986; Zerubavel, 2009).”
From Stories in Action. (2022) · cites this paper as Baumeister et al., 2004
Cites
The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation.
Baumeister, R. F., & Leary, M. R. (1995) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037//0033-2909.117.3.497 · Cited by 23,245 · see citing works
Self-citationBaumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Finkenauer, C., & Vohs, K. D. (2001) · Review of General Psychology · doi:10.1037/1089-2680.5.4.323 · Cited by 7,678 · see citing works
Self-citationRoese, N. J. (1997) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.121.1.133 · Cited by 1,156 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Negative emotions in particular stimulate retrospective analysis, including counterfactual thinking (e.g., Roese, 1997).”
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Word of mouth and interpersonal communication: A review and directions for future research
Berger, J. (2014) · Journal of Consumer Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jcps.2014.05.002 · Cited by 1,469 · see citing works
Research on Gossip: Taxonomy, Methods, and Future Directions
Foster, E. K. (2004) · Review of General Psychology · doi:10.1037/1089-2680.8.2.78 · Cited by 671 · see citing works
Alexandrov, A., Lilly, B., & Babakus, E. (2013) · Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science · doi:10.1007/s11747-012-0323-4 · Cited by 448 · see citing works
Multiple gossip statements and their effect on reputation and trustworthiness
Sommerfeld, R. D., Krambeck, H.-J., & Milinski, M. (2008) · Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.2008.0762 · Cited by 158 · see citing works
Hannak, A., Margolin, D., Keegan, B., & Weber, I. (2014) · Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media · doi:10.1609/icwsm.v8i1.14555 · Cited by 90 · see citing works
Networks of reliable reputations and cooperation: a review
Takács, K., Gross, J., Testori, M., Letina, S., Kenny, A. R., Power, E. A., & Wittek, R. P. M. (2021) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B · doi:10.1098/rstb.2020.0297 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
Walsh, J., Vaida, N., Coman, A., & Fiske, S. T. (2022) · Psychological Science in the Public Interest · doi:10.1177/15291006231161337 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
“17 People use stories to teach children how to read (Price & Kalil, 2019), as scaffolding to impart lessons on norms and morality (Baumeister et al., 2004; Walker & Lombrozo, 2017), and to explain how the natural world works (Dahlstrom, 2014).”
BackgroundInfluential
- Authors
- Baumeister, R. F., Zhang, L., & Vohs, K. D.
- Affiliations
- Florida State University (US)
- Case Western Reserve University (US)
- University of Utah (US)
- Corresponding author
- Baumeister, Roy F.
- Venue
- Review of General Psychology
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2004-06
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 111-121
- ISSN
- 1089-2680 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1552
- OpenAlex
- W2097836278
- Cited by
- 564
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 19 · 2025: 29 · 2024: 32 · 2023: 27 · 2022: 31 · 2021: 51 · 2020: 38 · 2019: 30 · 2018: 27 · 2017: 24 · 2016: 20 · 2015: 65 · 2014: 29 · 2013: 24 · 2012: 19
- FWCI
- 13.76
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Review of General Psychology (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Cultural Differences and Values
- Keywords
- gossip, cultural learning, observational learning, social norms, narrative, indirect aggression, social bonding
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