Gossip popular, according to buzz

Students seem to be doing it everywhere - in the middle of the Pit, the back of the library or at a crowded fraternity party.

Gossip is an almost unavoidable aspect of social interaction.

"I don't think it's a very nice thing to talk about people behind their backs," junior Stephanie Atkinson says. "But everyone does it."

For years, getting the skinny has been tainted by negative connotations, but the practice has been brought to academia by recent research that shows gossip plays an important role in social interaction.

Long-term studies on subjects ranging from U.S. middle-school children to their Pacific Islander counterparts show that one-fifth to two-thirds of daily conversation is devoted to gossip regardless of the demographic.

Mitchell Prinstein, a UNC professor of psychology, says gossip is used as a tool for people, especially during the adolescent years, to find a sense of self based on the opinions of their peers.

Research also suggests that gossip can be used as a way of coping with emotional distress instead of as a means of harming someone, says Prinstein, who teaches a peer-relations course.

For Michael Reklis, gossip is amusing because it's a way to analyze other people's faults.

"That's why people like it," says Reklis, a junior communication studies major.

Although freshman Emily Morgan says she generally doesn't like gossip, she once had a positive experience with it.

Morgan says she began to think of one of her male friends differently after a mutual friend spread a rumor about them liking each other.

The two victims of the rumor ended up dating as a result A-- and they still are together.

"I liked him for other reasons, too, but it definitely put the idea in my head," she says about the rumor.

Though senior Michael Pennink avoids the chatter, calling it irresponsible, he says that he understands the desire to gossip.

"It probably makes people feel good about themselves to talk about other people's problems," Pennink says.

Many students say they think women are more prone to gab.

"Girls are the worst," Atkinson says. "The only time I've heard guys participate in gossip is when girls initiate it and pull them in."

But that may be more than just a stereotype - girls develop a stronger relationship focus at adolescence, Prinstein says.

"It is that relationship emphasis that makes gossip such a potent mechanism for harm," he says. "It hurts girls and women where it hurts the most, in terms of relationships and social reputations."

Some research suggests, however, that men are just as likely as women to gossip.

The varying findings are characteristic of a developing field of interest.

Prinstein says gossip can encourage empathy, friendship and healthy social interactions. But those being talked about often experience depression, low self-esteem and anxiety, he says.

Perhaps that is why students seem to be so opposed to it, even if they admit to engaging in it.

"I've had my feelings hurt by gossip before," Atkinson says. "And most of my best friends have too."

And while many call it pointless, gossip seems to sneak into conversation even when people don't want it to.

Comparing yourself to others, which inevitably means talking about others in an evaluative way, is bound to happen, Prinstein says.

But ideally, that can be curbed as adolescents come into adulthood and focus on internal - instead of external - sources of esteem, he says.

Reklis says that while it might be impossible to avoid gossip, it is important at least to try.

Reklis summed up his feelings about gossip with a verse from Proverbs:

"Without wood, a fire goes out; without gossip, a quarrel dies down."

 

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