Me thinks you might be on to something...

Misery loves company.

Oh, there are both forms. But the overwhelming majority, just want the juicy info, or so I believe. Those with maliciousness in the heart are usually jaded lovers or someone that wanted to be a lover and is just jaded. Someone is only that cruel when there is a feeling of being wronged.

By the individual or society in general? Because there are celebs who are the focus of awful gossip and many with no connection to them seem to revel in spreading the dirt and increasing misery.

They do it because their own lives are boring.

So they have to fill it with interesting things that happen to other people.

Rumors happen when nothing interesting is happening to anyone, but they need entertainment anyway, so they make things up.

I'm pretty certain that is a component

I think people gossip because they somehow feel inferior to others. When they see a "weak link" or something that will get a big response out of others then they strike.


I think it's a mix of no life, no significant other on the horizon for them, jealousy and a little bit of evil and a lot of wanting to control...either situations or people.

Gossip starts as a malicious attempt to slander someone and possibly to improve the social standing of the people who made up the story because of jealousy or a need for revenge.

If you’re jealous of someone’s looks, popularity, or money, you might gossip about that person in order to hurt him or her. If you feel that someone’s done something bad to you, or deserves to be hurt, making up a rumor might satisfy your sense of justice.

Improve the social standing how? Is the appearance or perhaps even the real possession of some half truth or distorted fact supposed to tell us that the spreader of gossip is better than those who do not engage in this type of behavior?

"social standing" within a certain group, whether is at work, school, gym, etc., etc.,

Gotcha.... Sorta like becoming the uncrowned king or queen of the sh!theads

Right!

Celebraty gossip? Well, we as a general public fuel that. Anyone that's ever bought a "star" or "national enquirer" encourages this form of gossip. All we are looking for there is a flaw in the people we consider "stars." That way a person can feel as if they are "just as good" as a person that is celebrated.

Of course, I think that celeb gossip is a bunch of whooey. These people have no reason to be celebrated, what they were on TV? Wow, big thrill there, I've been on TV. Yeah, it was the news, and no I wasn't in handcuffs. Does that mean I should have the paparazzi hanging out waiting for me to f*(k up? No, my problems are the same as anyone elses.

Now we get celebs that do outlandish things, just for the publicity. Hoping to win fans and adoration of those that they don't know, and wouldn't talk too if they had a chance. Why? Gossip mongers. We love to hear about people doing worse than us. Why do you suppose "Jerry Springer" and "Oprah" (yeah, I went there) are so popular? We get to see someone having a worse time than we are. Oh, and Oprah might give you an island off the coast.

But this is a much different sort of gossip than Mabel and Gladys chatting about how the Mayor's daughter got knocked up by that "scoundrel" from the other side of the tracks.

Totally agree. This, as a rule, is much more harmful.

Scientists have studied gossip, they've come up with some pretty interesting theories and conclusions. Some researchers believe that gossip started as a way for early humans to learn about their neighbors and determine who they could trust, making it a necessary tool for survival. Robin Dunbar, author of "Grooming, Gossip and the Evolution of Language," theorizes that gossip works in human societies the same way grooming does in primate societies, but more efficiently. Dunbar goes so far as to theorize that language evolved so that people could gossip and more effectively establish and defend social groups.

Dunbar's idea might sound a little far-fetched, but researchers report that gossip has a lot in common with grooming, besides the stereotype of women gossiping in a beauty parlor:

Gossiping is enjoyable. Many people gossip just for fun or to blow off steam.
When you gossip with someone, you and the person you're talking to are displaying reciprocal trust. The people you chose to gossip with are people you trust not to use the information that you're sharing against you.
Gossip encourages social bonding. The people you gossip with become part of a group -- everyone else is outside of your group.

"gossip started as a way for early humans to learn about their neighbors and determine who they could trust"



I'm thinking either things have not changed or humans have not evolved much.