Social Influence on Interpersonal Relationships

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While it is unarguably a ubiquitous social phenomenon, gossip has received relatively little attention from empirical researchers. Theorists have long argued that gossip plays a special role in facilitating social bonds between participants and helps to maintain and enforce social norms in society, but these claims remain unverified. The primary goal of the proposed research is to better understand the nature of gossip. What is gossip exactly? Hat do people talk about? Why do we care so much about the private lives of others? Study 1 attempts to identify the defining characteristics of gossip that distinguish it from other types of talk. Study 2 addresses basic questions about gossip(who says what about whom?) by having participants keep detailed records of their conversations in a week-long diary study. Studies 3 and 4 test empirically the claims made by gossip theorists about social bonding and norm enforcement. Shared Reality Theory and the Social Intuitionist Model guide the predictions that gossip brings people closer together and strengthens social norms to the extent that gossip partners' moral worldviews overlap. The results of this line of research are expected to promote a greater understanding of the processes underlying gossip and moral evaluation and should have several implications for mental and physical well-being. In particular, the findings would highlight one mechanism by which close, stable and supportive interpersonal relationships develop. Strong social support networks have been shown to be associated with better psychological health, lower rates if illness, and reduced risk of mortality.