Gossip & Human Conversation

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Of all of the topics that I have worked on, my research on the psychology of gossip has attracted the most interest in the popular press by far. My perspective is that gossip is not a character flaw, but rather a social skill that evolved to help our ancestors become socially successful.

My gossip research has been featured in hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles, web blogs, and radio and television inteviews. It featured prominently in a documentary film done by the Canadian Broadcasting Company for their "Doc Zones" program, and I also did a cover story for Scientific American Mind Magazine in 2008.

Stumbling onto this topic has given me the opportunity to travel widely as well, so it has been the gift that keeps on giving! For example, I am currently serving on the advisory board for an ambitious research project (funded by the European Research Council (ERC)) on workplace gossip headquartered at VU University in Amsterdam.

This topic also provided a segue into other research and writing projects concerned with the dynamics of human conversation in general. I recently had a consulting relationship with a start-up firm called "KNIT: Your Virtual Meeting Space" in an attempt to improve the naturalness of social interaction online. My gossip publications and presentations are listed below.

Publications

McAndrew, F. T. (2024, January 4). How natural selection turned us into busybodies. Essay in Out of the Ooze: Navigating the 21st Century with a Stone-Age Mind. Psychology Today Magazine.

McAndrew, F. T. (2023, August 1). How humans came to love gossip so much. Essay in Out of the Ooze: Navigating the 21st Century with a Stone-Age Mind. Psychology Today Magazine.

McAndrew, F. T. (2023, May/June). How to have a great conversation. Psychology Today Magazine, Volume 56, No. 3, pp. 44-45.

McAndrew, F. T. (2023, April 3). Why "snitching" makes us so uncomfortable. Essay in Out of the Ooze: Navigating the 21st Century with a Stone-Age Mind. Psychology Today Magazine.

McAndrew, F. T. (2023, March 14). How to Get Other People to Like You. Essay in Out of the Ooze: Navigating the 21st Century with a Stone-Age Mind. Psychology Today Magazine.

McAndrew, F. T. (2023, March 1). Why Gossip Feels So Good. Essay in Out of the Ooze: Navigating the 21st Century with a Stone-Age Mind. Psychology Today Magazine.

McAndrew, F. T. (2022, April 1). How to Tell That You’re Boring. Essay in Out of the Ooze: Navigating the 21st Century with a Stone-Age Mind. Psychology Today Magazine.

McAndrew, F. T. (2021). Why Caring About Celebrities Can Be Good for You. In L. Idzikowski (Ed.), Introducing Issues with Opposing Viewpoints: Celebrity Culture. Plymouth, MA: Greenhaven Publishing.

McAndrew, F. T. (2021, October 4). What makes some conversations so great? In Out of the Ooze: Navigating the 21st Century with a Stone-Age Mind. Psychology Today Magazine (Blog).

McAndrew, F. T. (2021). Workplace Gossip. In R. Griffin (Ed.), Oxford Bibliographies in Management, New York: Oxford University Press.

McAndrew, F. T. (2020, January 18). Why small talk is a big deal. In Out of the Ooze: Navigating the 21st Century with a Stone-Age Mind, Psychology Today Magazine (Blog).

McAndrew, F. T. (2019). Gossip as a social skill. In F. Giardini & R. Wittek (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Gossip and Reputation (pp. 173-192), New York: Oxford University Press.

McAndrew, F. T. (2018, April 28). Your sense of humor can serve as "social radar." In Out of the Ooze: Navigating the 21st Century with a Stone-Age Mind, Psychology Today Magazine Blog.

McAndrew, F. T. F. T. (2018, April 22). Why Pretty Girls Get Bullied. In Out of the Ooze: Navigating the 21st Century with a Stone-Age Mind, Psychology Today Magazine Blog.

McAndrew, F. T. (2017). How“The Gossip" became a woman and how“Gossip became her weapon of choice. In M. L. Fisher (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Women and Competition (pp. 191-205). New York: Oxford University Press.

McAndrew, F. T. (2017, July 18). What is the right size for a group conversation? In Out of the Ooze: Navigating the 21st Century with a Stone-Age Mind, Psychology Today Magazine.

De Backer, C. J. S., Larson, C., Fisher, M. L., McAndrew, F. T., & Rudnicki, K. (2016). When strangers start to gossip: Investigating the effects of gossip on cooperation in a prisoner's dilemma game. Evolutionary Psychological Science, 2, 266-277.

McAndrew, F. T. (2016, January 20). Gossip is a social skill - not a character flaw. This appeared in several news outlets, including Time, The New Republic, & The Conversation.

McAndrew, F. T. (2015, June 10). Gossip in Your Workplace Probably Does More Good Than Harm. In HRZone, Siftmedia, U. K..

McAndrew, F. T. (2015, March). Why caring about Celebrities can be Good for You. In Out of the Ooze: Navigating the 21st Century with a Stone-Age Mind, Psychology Today Magazine.

McAndrew, F. T. (2014). The "Sword of a Woman:" Gossip and Female Aggression. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 19, 196-199.

McAndrew, F. T. (2011). Can Gossip be Good? In M. Cunningham (Ed.), The Reader's Edge: Book Two (pp. 525-531). New York: McGraw-Hill.

McAndrew, F. T. (2008). Can gossip be good? Scientific American Mind Magazine, October/November, 26-33. (Cover Story)

McAndrew, F. T. (2008). The psychology of gossip. Psychology Teacher Network, 17, 5-7.

McAndrew, F. T., Bell, E. K., & Garcia, C. M. (2007). Who do we tell, and whom do we tell on? Gossip as a strategy for status enhancement. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 37, 1562-1577.
[This research, with a slightly different title, was also presented at the Annual Meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Austin, Texas (June, 2005).

De Backer, C., Nelissen, M., Vyncke, P., Braeckman, J., & McAndrew, F. T. (2007). Celebrities: From teachers to friends. A test of two hypotheses on the adaptiveness of celebrity gossip. Human Nature, 18, 334-354.

McAndrew, F.T., & Milenkovic, M.A. (2002). Of tabloids and family secrets: The evolutionary psychology of gossip. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 32, 1064-1082.

Presentations

McAndrew, F. T. (2024, February 24). Engaging in Civil Public Dialogue in the 21st Century: Why It is so Difficult, and How to Make It Happen. Invited presenter & panelist at a meeting of the Knox College Board of Trustees, Chicago.

McAndrew, F. T. (2023, July 6-7). Strategies for sharing your research with the public and beyond. Presentation at the Force of Gossip Conference, VU University, Amsterdam.

McAndrew, F. T. (2019, November 14). Gossip: Is it a Social Skill–or a Character Flaw? Invited talk given at Western Illinois University, Quad Cities Campus, Moline, Illinois.

McAndrew, F. T. (2019, September 24). Gossip in Work Organizations: A Double-Edged Sword? Invited talk at the Business Psychology Graduate Program at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology.

McAndrew, F. T. (2016, October). The Evolutionary Psychology of Gossip. Invited address to the Department of Organization Sciences, Vrije University (VU), Amsterdam.

Goranson, A., & McAndrew, F. T. (2013, July). Does self-monitoring mediate interest in different styles of gossip? Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society (HBES), Miami, FL.

McAndrew, F. T. (2011, October). The Evolutionary Psychology of Gossip. Invited talk in the Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri – Columbia.

McAndrew, F. T. (2011, April). The Science of Gossip: Why You Can't Stop Yourself. Keynote address at the annual ILLOWA Undergraduate Psychology Research Conference, Monmouth, IL

McAndrew, F. T. (2011, March). The Evolutionary Psychology of Gossip. Invited Presentation at Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Indiana.

McAndrew, F. T. (2010, April). The Evolutionary Psychology of Gossip. Invited Presentation at the University of Missouri at St. Louis.

McAndrew, F. T. (2010, September). The Evolutionary Psychology of Gossip. Invited Presentation at DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana.

McAndrew, F. T. (2008, March). The Evolutionary Psychology of Gossip. Invited presentation at Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida.

McAndrew, F. T. (2007, September). Information Age Media and Stone Age Minds: How the Entertainment Industry Succeeds by Pressing the Right Buttons in Our Hunter-Gatherer Brains. Invited Keynote Address at the first annual IDeoGRAMS Conference 2007: Contemporary Media. Leicester, England.

McAndrew, F. T. (2006, October). The evolutionary psychology of gossip. Invited presentation at the University of Texas at Austin.

McAndrew, F. T. (2006, October). The evolutionary psychology of gossip. Invited presentation at the University of Texas at Arlington.

McAndrew, F. T. (2005, February). Gossip as entertainment: Why does bad news feel so good? Invited Presentation at a conference on Media and Universals 2005 – Focus on Film and Print, Universitat Siegen, Siegen, Germany.

McAndrew, F. T. (2005, October). The Evolutionary Psychology of Gossip. Invited Presentation at Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois.

McAndrew, F. T. (2004, November). The Evolutionary Psychology of Gossip. Invited Presentation at Carl Sandburg College, Galesburg, Illinois.

McAndrew, F. T. (2004, December). The Evolutionary Psychology of Gossip. Invited Presentation at Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois.

McAndrew, F. T. (2004, July). Why is Gossip so Irresistible? Explorations in the Evolutionary Psychology of Gossip. Invited paper presented at a symposium of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Berlin, Germany.

McAndrew, F. T. (2003, February). The evolutionary psychology of gossip. Invited talk presented at Colby College, Waterville, Maine.

McAndrew, F. T. (2001, September). The evolutionary psychology of gossip. Invited talk presented at Binghamton University (SUNY)

McAndrew, F. T. (2001, November). The evolutionary psychology of gossip. Invited talk presented at the University of New Mexico (Albuquerque).