Rumors Are Darkly Creative Narratives

Gossip and rumors are effective, novel, and often, negative.

Reviewed by Lybi Ma

Key points

• Gossip can build connections or harm reputations, affecting personal and professional relationships.
• Power, control, and validation often drive people to spread gossip or rumors.
• Traits like narcissism and Machiavellianism shape how people use gossip strategically.
• Women favor indirect methods of aggression, whereas men use direct ones more often.

Did you hear? He threatened to break up if she didn’t commit to the relationship! But I wonder why she isn’t making it official. Maybe something from her past. Do you think she was married earlier? Woah. That would make things interesting.

This spiral of gossip and rumor-mongering is rather familiar. We have either engaged in this behavior or encountered others who make conjectures with the hope of uncovering some juicy information. But what motivates us to create these alternative narratives?

Gossip and rumors are often a byproduct of certain personality traits, cognitive processes, and psychological wants—the desire to gain power, resources, or hedonism, can motivate a person to create rumors or gossip. A junior employee dedicated to working for the company for several years believes he deserves a promotion. He suspects a colleague is a potential threat to his upgrade. Instead of challenging them outright, he resorts to spreading a rumor about his manager and the employee having personal relationships beyond the professional setting.

He sits back and enjoys others reacting to and engaging in the chaos created by this rumor. Such manipulation and misuse of social relationships through unethical means give the gossiper a sense of domination. The rumor damages both the coworker’s and manager’s credibility, altering the social dynamics in the workplace. This shift boosts his influence, favoring the junior employee while compromising the reputations of those affected.

However, gossip does not always arise to hurt another. Gossip can occur in information validation, information gathering, relationship building, protection, and social enjoyment. Gossip tends to emerge from conversations that begin from a neutral perspective, but can have aspects of positive or negative comments in private settings. In work settings, positive gossip transpires as information-sharing or informal communication among employees, whereas negative gossip surfaces in workplaces as a form of bullying or scapegoating.

A gossiper’s personality traits play a significant role too. For example, individuals with narcissistic tendencies, driven by a need for external validation and appreciation, often create gossip centered around themselves. Moreover, they also use gossip to build relationships; for instance, a person with narcissistic traits might forge a stronger relationship with someone who thinks similarly about a third person.

Sometimes, gossip can be fueled by direct or indirect aggression, which is perceived differently by women and men. Suppose a disagreement occurred between two women who are part of a larger group of friends. Holding a grudge against each other, they began to socially exclude themselves from situations where they would bump into each other. Through gossip and rumor, one of the women successfully manipulates the other group members to avoid the other one. Often, women produce more indirect and social aggression through expressions like rumors and gossip that can deteriorate their opponent’s reputation. Conversely, men portray direct, physical aggression. When these forms of aggression comprise dark creative action, they are novel and hurtful as well.

In terms of dark triad personalities, those with higher psychopathic and Machiavellian traits are more inclined towards displaying malevolent creativity as they lack empathy and can be very manipulative. Adding a gender element, women with Machiavellian tendencies may display indirect aggression through original rumors and weaving scandals that could benefit them and harm others’ reputations (think: Gossip Girl and not Gossip Boy).

Although gossip and rumors seem amusing as harmless chit-chat, they can affect our social relationships and professional environments through malicious manipulation. Gossip in workspaces can be used as a strategic power play at the expense of someone’s reputation or well-being. Understanding the nuances of this communication can help us navigate social dynamics better, ensuring we are mindful of its potential for both constructive and destructive outcomes in personal and professional settings.

This post was co-written with Tithi Agarwal, a Research Affiliate at the Department of Psychology, Monk Prayogshala.