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• Position: SOCIAL STUDIES - Gossip

Gossip has long been dismissed as little more than idle background chatter with no useful social function. But some researchers now say that it should be central to any study of group interaction. "Gossip appears to be a very sophisticated, multifunctional interaction which is important in policing behaviors and defining group membership," says David Sloan Wilson, a professor of biology and anthropology at the State University of New York at Binghamton. While lying and cheating among friends make for the juiciest material (most people pass on their best tidbits to at least two other people), gossip may offer a foothold for newcomers and a safety net for group members...