The Evolution of Gossip | Otherwords (feat. @besmart)

Gossip is an integral part of human social structure... and maybe the reason language evolved in the first place!

Otherwords is a PBS web series on Storied that digs deep into this quintessential human trait of language and fınds the fascinating, thought-provoking, and funny stories behind the words and sounds we take for granted. Incorporating the fıelds of biology, history, cultural studies, literature, and more, linguistics has something for everyone and offers a unique perspective on what it means to be human.

Sources:
Grooming, Gossip and the Evolution of Language (1996) by Robin Dunbar

Host: Erica Brozovsky, Ph.D.
Creator/Director: Andrew Matthews & Katie Graham
Writer: Andrew Matthews
Producer: Katie Graham
Editor/Animation: Andrew Matthews
Executive Producer: Amanda Fox
Fact Checker: Yvonne McGreevy

Executive in Charge for PBS: Maribel Lopez
Associate Director of Programming for PBS: Niki Walker

Stock Images from Shutterstock
Music from APM Music
Otherwords is produced by Spotzen for PBS.
© 2022 PBS. All rights reserved.

[thelocalstumbler]

I'm not one for gossip but I heard in the grapevine that Dr. B and Otherwords won a Gold Telly Award

[TheShowerofSlime]

The grooming thing makes sense- there's is no better place to get local gossip than hair and nail salon.

[mattdeblassmusic]

I worked for years local news reporter, and this makes me think about how good journalism is basically just useful gossip.

Things like "The city engineer said that there will be construction on Main Street between Second and Fourth avenues next week, " or "Comptroller fired after allegedly embezzling funds" are just a way of talking about what the community leadership has planned, or who can't be trusted with shared resources. On a local level, in particular, knowing what "important" people are doing or saying can give you information that affects your day to day life.

[hippopotamusbosch]

🤫 I heard Dr. Erica enjoys talking about gossip. 😏

[ltlbuddha]

Hmmm, although I can see this as a factor in our language development, I question it being THE factor. “There buffalo” seems sufficient until you consider the reality might easily be “The buffalo are there during the first part of the spring, unless there is a drought, in which case they tend to be in the valley three days to the south. And don’t approach them if a thunderstorm is in the area, they get a bit spooked.”
In other words, practical matters also benefit from nuanced communication. I see the hammer-nail approach so often, when spanners and bolts exist as well.

[eoincampbell]

Really fascinating and quite compelling theory. Much better than other explanations I've heard for human brain development like "our ancestors did LSD" or "running in heat is hard, big brain prevents heatstroke."

[TheRandomzcookie]

This was an incredible video. I find other words to be such a cool series so far coz we’re not just learning about like the specifics of language, but the big ideas, the broad strokes, stuff that I’d never think of without it being brought up. This episode in particular really made me think. Thank you!

[archdemons]

my friend and I were watching this and she said the part about having to know how everyone feels about each other was so true. we then paused the episode so she could tell me about how complicated the relationships at school are. we literally paused the gossip video to gossip 💀

[Roguefem]

Anybody who has ever been lied about can attest that gossip is no longer about establishing who is trustworthy - if it ever was - as the least trustworthy people are often the biggest gossips, lying about others to make themselves look better.

[sandormagyar]

My main problem with gossip is that it's disrespectful to the person being gossiped about. They deserve a chance to correct whatever problems you have with them. Rather than giving them that chance by saying it to their face, gossiping is a way of getting angry about the problem without trying to fix it. And because the person isn't present, there's the temptation to verbally bash them much harder than you would dare to in their presence. I would hate to be on the receiving end of this. These issues might not outweigh the positive qualities of gossip in every case, but it's something to think about.

[gwyndolinds-enyt]

This isn’t much fun when you are anxiously self aware of your flaws

But great video!

[nicolaiveliki]

gossip isn't only about detecting 'freeloaders', but also about optimising behavior of other people's behavior and plotting how to bring this optimized behavior to bear in people without them being present. I haven't seen it work yet, because plans usually fail when they meet reality, but we hold out hope for our fellow humans if we can imagine a way they could behave that benifits the group

[emilyforeman]

I like the idea of how it's a good way to keep track of groups rather than individual people. I'm in the military and work in a career field where people work all over the US but in reality there's not a whole lot of us. Oddly enough, my career is actually quite gossip heavy and even for people within my own unit I keep track better of who is friends with who and how that particular group functions together better than each individual person. This is important information because we're often paired in groups in such a way that we get to know each other really really well for a week and then might not see each other again for months. I hear gossip on things such as who isn't a very easy person to work with or who is considered really knowledgeable or what behind the scenes conversations are happening between people in leadership positions. I have people around me who hate this gossip and think it's harmful but after doing this job for 5+ years I consider it an important way to connect with those around me and figure out what kind of challenges people are having.

[otakuribo]

I've never in my life enjoyed gossip or even saw the point of it, but i have noticed that people talk mostly about people and they think you're weird or creepy if you don't. I am on the autism spectrum and have issues with interpersonal communication, so i wonder now if those are related? 🤔

[Sgtpepper]

This is beside the point but I love the score for this series. I don’t know who does the music, but I always enjoy the bizarre analog synthesizer/baroque classical/pop music lite soundtrack— it’s eclectic and it complements Dr. B’s style

[myragroenewegen]

I keep hearing about this science and loving when I do. Like lying, gossip may be a maliciously used power play, but may also be a lot of other things, so it's not so much to be avoided as to be learned about. When we're truly literate in the ways of gossip, we can use it to do the things one might expect it to work against. Information in a group can't be hidden with enough healthy gossip going on. People who get a lot of different perspectives on people who don't fit in and difficult situations involving people are less likely to make snap judgements and exclude someone for a mistake or misfortune, so groups with much healthy gossip can actually accommodate troublesome human behavior and circumstances a long time, while inducting new members and learning to deal well with current ones.
Of course, in a worst-case scenario, a sociopath can co-opt the gossip conversations in a group and play people against each other and situations endlessly, for their own gain. But what does that sociopath in is people gossiping in all kinds of diverse groupings they might not anticipate from what seems to be the group's natural power structure. So maybe in the best of all possible worlds, we should all be gossiping to everyone about everyone and hope that we ourselves are gossiped about. When a group stops gossiping about someone it probably mean either that they aren't in the group anymore, or that they have a stranglehold on information flow in that group - which is quite frightening.

[TheMichaelStott]

Like most things, gossip once served an important role especially with the outside dangers our ancestors faced. It kept individuals in line with the community and made sure they did their part which makes me feel that the old saying "Deeds not words" came to be. The more deeds you did, the more stories about you were told; doing a lot of good deeds made positive stories. These days gossip has become more of a "political" tool, especially at work and school. Our brain is constantly looking out for danger and loss of acceptance in a community is still a danger in our heads whether we are social creatures or introverted.

[jannetteberends]

A long time ago I read about research that mathematics developed out of gossip. This was like the follow up.
I also think gossip in a group can reduce irritation about other persons.

[rudyspective]

Okay I don't know if anybody noticed it but.... usually women are depicted as the gender who enjoy the activity of gossip but in this video, it's the male species who are illustrated, and it wasn't until later on that the women are represented. Overall I find this informative and funny, and I'm relieved to discover that MEN GOSSIP TOO.

[qjn]

According to one of most recent Dunbar's book (Friends: Understanding...), grooming did not evolve to gossips, rather gossips replaced grooming. There are also other behaviors, which also took a role of grooming: laughter, singing and dancing, alcohol, storytelling or common meals