scholarly journals Gossip and reputation in everyday life

2021 ◽  
Vol 376 (1838) ◽  
Author(s):  
Terence D. Dores Cruz ◽  
Isabel Thielmann ◽  
Simon Columbus ◽  
Catherine Molho ◽  
Junhui Wu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Laboratory Experiments ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Community Sample ◽  
Partner Selection ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Honest Signalling ◽  
Indirect Reciprocity ◽  
Daily Events ◽  
Shared Information

Gossip—a sender communicating to a receiver about an absent third party—is hypothesized to impact reputation formation, partner selection, and cooperation. Laboratory experiments have found that people gossip about others' cooperativeness and that they use gossip to condition their cooperation. Here, we move beyond the laboratory and test several predictions from theories of indirect reciprocity and reputation-based partner selection about the content of everyday gossip and how people use it to update the reputation of others in their social network. In a Dutch community sample ( N = 309), we sampled daily events in which people either sent or received gossip about a target over 10 days ( n gossip = 5284). Gossip senders frequently shared information about targets’ cooperativeness and did so in ways that minimize potential retaliation from targets. Receivers overwhelmingly believed gossip to be true and updated their evaluation of targets based on gossip. In turn, a positive shift in the evaluation of a target was associated with higher intentions to help them in future interactions, and with lower intentions to avoid them in the future. Thus, gossip is used in daily life to impact and update reputations in a way that enables partner selection and indirect reciprocity. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The language of cooperation: reputation and honest signalling’.

scholarly journals Gossip and Reputation in Everyday Life

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terence Daniel Dores Cruz ◽  
Isabel Thielmann ◽  
Simon Columbus ◽  
Catherine Molho ◽  
Junhui Wu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Community Sample ◽  
Partner Selection ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Indirect Reciprocity ◽  
Lab Experiments ◽  
Daily Events ◽  
Shared Information

Gossip—a sender communicating to a receiver about an absent third party—is hypothesized to impact reputation formation, partner selection, and cooperation. Lab experiments have found that people gossip about others’ cooperativeness and that they use gossip to condition their cooperation. Here, we move beyond the lab and test several predictions from theories of indirect reciprocity and reputation-based partner selection about the content of gossip in daily life and how people use it to update the reputation of others in their social network. In a Dutch community sample (N = 309), we sampled daily events in which people either sent or received gossip about a target over 10 days (k = 5,154). Gossip senders frequently shared information about a target’s cooperativeness and did so in ways that minimize potential retaliation from targets. Receivers overwhelmingly believed gossip to be true and updated their evaluation of targets based on gossip. In turn, a positive shift in a target’s evaluation led to higher intentions to help them in future interactions, along with lower intentions to avoid them in the future. Thus, gossip is used in daily life to efficiently impact and update reputations in a way that enables partner selection and indirect reciprocity.

scholarly journals Networks of reliable reputations and cooperation: a review

2021 ◽  
Vol 376 (1838) ◽  
Author(s):  
Károly Takács ◽  
Jörg Gross ◽  
Martina Testori ◽  
Srebrenka Letina ◽  
Adam R. Kenny ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Identity Formation ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Honest Signalling ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
Shared Information ◽  
Network Topologies

Reputation has been shown to provide an informal solution to the problem of cooperation in human societies. After reviewing models that connect reputations and cooperation, we address how reputation results from information exchange embedded in a social network that changes endogenously itself. Theoretical studies highlight that network topologies have different effects on the extent of cooperation, since they can foster or hinder the flow of reputational information. Subsequently, we review models and empirical studies that intend to grasp the coevolution of reputations, cooperation and social networks. We identify open questions in the literature concerning how networks affect the accuracy of reputations, the honesty of shared information and the spread of reputational information. Certain network topologies may facilitate biased beliefs and intergroup competition or in-group identity formation that could lead to high cooperation within but conflicts between different subgroups of a network. Our review covers theoretical, experimental and field studies across various disciplines that target these questions and could explain how the dynamics of interactions and reputations help or prevent the establishment and sustainability of cooperation in small- and large-scale societies. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The language of cooperation: reputation and honest signalling’.

scholarly journals The benefits of being seen to help others: indirect reciprocity and reputation-based partner choice

2021 ◽  
Vol 376 (1838) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gilbert Roberts ◽  
Nichola Raihani ◽  
Redouan Bshary ◽  
Héctor M. Manrique ◽  
Andrea Farina ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Partner Choice ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Strategic Investment ◽  
Honest Signalling ◽  
Indirect Reciprocity ◽  
Signalling Theory

When one individual helps another, it benefits the recipient and may also gain a reputation for being cooperative. This may induce others to favour the helper in subsequent interactions, so investing in being seen to help others may be adaptive. The best-known mechanism for this is indirect reciprocity (IR), in which the profit comes from an observer who pays a cost to benefit the original helper. IR has attracted considerable theoretical and empirical interest, but it is not the only way in which cooperative reputations can bring benefits. Signalling theory proposes that paying a cost to benefit others is a strategic investment which benefits the signaller through changing receiver behaviour, in particular by being more likely to choose the signaller as a partner. This reputation-based partner choice can result in competitive helping whereby those who help are favoured as partners. These theories have been confused in the literature. We therefore set out the assumptions, the mechanisms and the predictions of each theory for how developing a cooperative reputation can be adaptive. The benefits of being seen to be cooperative may have been a major driver of sociality, especially in humans. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The language of cooperation: reputation and honest signalling’.

scholarly journals Honesty and dishonesty in gossip strategies: a fitness interdependence analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 376 (1838) ◽  
Author(s):  
Junhui Wu ◽  
Szabolcs Számadó ◽  
Pat Barclay ◽  
Bianca Beersma ◽  
Terence D. Dores Cruz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Foundation ◽  
Perfect Match ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Simple Rule ◽  
Formal Models ◽  
Partial Match ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Honest Signalling ◽  
Optimal Decisions ◽  
Conflicting Interests

Gossip, or sharing information about absent others, has been identified as an effective solution to free rider problems in situations with conflicting interests. Yet, the information transmitted via gossip can be biased, because gossipers may send dishonest information about others for personal gains. Such dishonest gossip makes reputation-based cooperation more difficult to evolve. But when are people likely to share honest or dishonest gossip? We build formal models to provide the theoretical foundation for individuals' gossip strategies, taking into account the gossiper's fitness interdependence with the receiver and the target. Our models across four different games suggest a very simple rule: when there is a perfect match (mismatch) between fitness interdependence and the effect of honest gossip, the gossiper should always be honest (dishonest); however, in the case of a partial match, the gossiper should make a choice based on their fitness interdependence with the receiver and the target and the marginal cost/benefit in terms of pay-off differences caused by possible choices of the receiver and the target in the game. Moreover, gossipers can use this simple rule to make optimal decisions even under noise. We discuss empirical examples that support the predictions of our model and potential extensions. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The language of cooperation: reputation and honest signalling’.

scholarly journals Intermediation Reduces Punishment (and Reward)

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 77-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucas C Coffman
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Charitable Giving ◽  
Laboratory Experiments ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Moral Decision ◽  
Separate Study ◽  
Moral Decision Making

This paper shows moral decision making is not well predicted by the overall fairness of an act but rather by the fairness of the consequences that follow directly. In laboratory experiments, third-party punishment for keeping money from a poorer player decreases when an intermediary actor is included in the transaction. This is true for completely passive intermediaries, even though intermediation decreases the payout of the poorest player and hurts equity, and because intermediation distances the transgressor from the outcome. A separate study shows rewards of charitable giving decrease when the saliency of an intermediary is increased. (JEL A13, D63, D64)

“The Camera Rolls”

2012 ◽  
Vol 642 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikki Jones ◽  
Geoffrey Raymond
Keyword(s):  
Daily Life ◽  
Video Recording ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Video Camera ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Key Points ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
Citizen Interactions

This article draws on one citizen’s efforts to document daily life in his neighborhood. The authors describe the potential benefits of third-party video—videos that people who are not social scientists have recorded and preserved—to social science research. Excerpts from a collection of police-citizen interactions illustrate key points likely to confront researchers who use third-party video. The authors address two important questions: How might the presence of a video camera affect the unfolding of interactions that are recorded in third-party videos? and How might the perspective of the videographer influence the production and preservation of these records and, in turn, what influence might this standpoint have on our analysis of the data? The authors argue that, given the ubiquity of handheld video recording devices, social scientists should develop systematic approaches to using video created by others as both a cultural record and as data.

Do life events have their effect on psychosis by influencing the emotional reactivity to daily life stress?

2003 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 327-333 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. MYIN-GERMEYS ◽  
L. KRABBENDAM ◽  
P. A. E. G. DELESPAUL ◽  
J. VAN OS
Keyword(s):  
Life Events ◽  
Life Stress ◽  
Emotional Reactivity ◽  
Psychotic Disorders ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Cumulative Effect ◽  
Emotional Reaction ◽  
Daily Hassles ◽  
Multilevel Regression ◽  
Daily Events

Background. Life events (LE) have consistently been found to influence course and outcome of psychotic disorders. However, the mechanism through which they operate is not known. The present study investigated whether LE have their effect by impacting on the emotional sensitivity for daily hassles.Method. Patients with clinically remitted psychotic illness (N=42) were studied with the Experience Sampling Method (a structured diary technique assessing current context and mood in daily life) to assess: (1) appraised subjective stress related to daily events and activities; and (2) emotional reactivity conceptualized as changes in both negative affect (NA) and positive affect (PA). LE were assessed with the Brown & Harris Life Event and Difficulties Schedule.Results. Multilevel regression analyses showed that previous exposure to LE influenced the appraised stressfulness of neither daily events nor the activities in which the subjects were involved. However, a history of LE did modify the emotional reaction to daily life stress, both in models predicting NA and in models predicting PA.Conclusions. By their cumulative effect on emotional reactivity to daily activities and events, LE may render individuals more vulnerable to the onset or persistence of psychotic experiences.

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