Is It the Content or the Gossiper's Behaviour While Evaluating Gossip for Children?

Abstract

Gossip is a crucial social cognitive skill that individuals encounter from early childhood and continues to play a significant role in daily life throughout different stages of development. While gossip is often associated with negative connotations, it is defined as the sharing of information about a third party who is not present. As a result, the valence of gossip—whether positive or negative—depends on the content being shared. Additionally, the behaviour of the person sharing the gossip can influence our judgement of the situation. In light of this, the present study explored how the content of gossip and the prosocial or antisocial behaviours of the gossiper affect the evaluations of children. The study involved 93 children, 50 of whom were girls, with ages ranging from 4 to 6 years (M age = 5.01 years). The participants were initially presented with vignettes using picture cards, in which the gossiper displayed either prosocial or antisocial behaviour. Following this, they were introduced to additional vignettes in which the gossiper shared information with either positive or negative content. In total, four distinct conditions were created: prosocial behaviour with negative gossip, prosocial behaviour with positive gossip, antisocial behaviour with negative gossip, and antisocial behaviour with positive gossip. The findings of the study revealed that children aged 4 to 6 tend to focus on the positive content of the gossip in their evaluations. However, when considering the behaviour of the gossiper, the prosocial or antisocial nature of the gossiper's actions had a greater influence on their judgement than the content of the gossip itself. The results are discussed in terms of how the impact of gossip content and the gossiper's behaviour varies with age.