Is There Such Thing As Being A Good Gossiper?
Why Do We Gossip?
Our desire to talk about others is actually an evolutionary one. Gossiping is simply about sharing and receiving information about people. At its core, most gossip is about learning and telling who can be trusted and who cannot be trusted. Hundreds of years ago, that information could have life or death implications. Knowing who could and could not be trusted would be the difference between surviving and literally being stabbed in the back in a fight over resources.
Over time, the people who were better at gossiping gained the most information about people in their network. This armed them with information on who to trust, which helped them survive, which increased their chances of reproducing and passing on their genes. Ultimately, the drive to gossip is genetically favored.
