Social Influence on Interpersonal Relationships

虽然八卦毫无疑问是一种普遍存在的社会现象，但实证研究者对它的关注相对较少。长期以来，理论家们一直认为，八卦在促进参与者之间的社会联系方面发挥着特殊作用，有助于维持和加强社会规范，但这些说法仍然未经证实。这项研究的主要目的是更好地理解八卦的本质。八卦到底是什么？人们谈论什么？为什么我们如此关心别人的私生活？研究1试图确定八卦的定义特征，将其与其他类型的谈话区分开来。研究2解决了关于八卦的基本问题（谁说了谁的什么？）通过让参与者在为期一周的日记研究中详细记录他们的对话。研究3和研究4实证检验了流言理论家关于社会联结和规范执行的主张。共享现实理论和社会直觉主义模型指导了这样的预测，即八卦使人们更紧密地联系在一起，并在一定程度上加强了社会规范，使八卦伙伴的道德世界观重叠。这一系列研究的结果有望促进对八卦和道德评价背后的过程的更好理解，并对身心健康产生若干影响。特别是，研究结果将突出一种机制，通过这种机制，密切，稳定和支持性的人际关系得以发展。强大的社会支持网络已被证明与更好的心理健康，降低患病率和降低死亡风险有关。

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.