Nature V Nurture

Nature V Nurture

  • Submitted By: kkkyler
  • Date Submitted: 01/15/2014 7:53 AM
  • Category: Psychology
  • Words: 638
  • Page: 3
  • Views: 65

There are a many ways to categorize conversation among people. We greet each other and say goodbye; we explain, inform, lie, tell secrets, and comfort and support each other with kind words when feeling down. But mostly, people also love to gossip. The rule to gossip is basically discussing another person without their defense. It has been said that to gossip is a human nature, and unavoidable because everyone engage in this behavior to some extent.
Mark T. McAndrew, a Professor of Pscyhology, argues that it helped people thrive in ancient times; he contends that preoccupation with the lives of others is a by-product of the psychology that evolved in prehistoric times to make our ancestors socially successful. For example, during these early times, meeting a stranger was very rare. When such an event did occur, it prompted clan members to come together to know more about the stranger and whether he or she brought danger to their community. Also, they would engage in talking about other people who were not present as a means of passing information down to other generations. In our modern world today, we gossip to stay connected about the lives of others. For example, when a circle of friends come together, if a member of the group is missing, then this could lead to a discussion about that person as other members of the group relate their own snippet of “news” about their friend. In addition, there are also many theories about some speculation that gossip can actually one possible factor that made our brain larger now (evolutionarily adaptive).
Why do many people love to gossip? According to the article of Psychologies magazine, “Gossip builds social bonds because shared dislikes create stronger than shared positives.” Here is why gossip exists in most people: Hearsay collects information such as who can and cannot be trusted without having to interact directly with the person of interest. Gossip allows people to talk about other people they don’t like....

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