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Concept
Gossip
Summary
Gossip is idle talk or rumor, especially about the personal or private affairs of others; the act is also known as dishing or tattling.
Gossip is a topic of research in evolutionary psychology, which has found gossip to be an important means for people to monitor cooperative reputations and so maintain widespread indirect reciprocity. Indirect reciprocity is a social interaction in which one actor helps another and is then benefited by a third party. Gossip has also been identified by Robin Dunbar, an evolutionary biologist, as aiding social bonding in large groups.
The word is from Old English godsibb, from god and sibb, the term for the godparents of one's child or the parents of one's godchild, generally very close friends. In the 16th century, the word assumed the meaning of a person, mostly a woman, one who delights in idle talk, a newsmonger, a tattler. In the early 19th century, the term was extended from the talker to the conversation of such persons. The verb to gossip, meaning "to be a gossip", first appears in Shakespeare.
The term originates from the bedroom at the time of childbirth. Giving birth used to be a social event exclusively attended by women. The pregnant woman's female relatives and neighbours would congregate and idly converse. Over time, gossip came to mean talk of others.
Gossip can:
reinforce or punish the lack of morality and accountability
reveal passive aggression, isolating and harming others
build and maintain a sense of community with shared interests, information, and values
begin a courtship that helps one find their desired mate, by counseling others
provide a peer-to-peer mechanism for disseminating information
Mary Gormandy White, a human resource expert, gives the following "signs" for identifying workplace gossip:
Animated people become silent ("Conversations stop when you enter the room")
People begin staring at someone
Workers indulge in inappropriate topics of conversation.
White suggests "five tips ...
Official source
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