Throughout the years, gossip is known for being apart of high school. It is almost as though everyone knows everyone else’s business. But why? Why is almost everyone’s lives put on display? Why does everyone love to gossip? 

Think about it, when you go out with your friends to dinner, what do you sit and talk about? Once you stop talking about yourselves and what has happened in your life over the past few weeks, the next best thing is to talk about someone else and their life. Whether it concerns relationships, sports commitment, or academics, everyone wants to be caught up on the latest piece of ‘news’. But why? Why is the act of gossiping so addicting? What is the psychology behind it?

Let’s answer this question first: why do people love gossip? In the early days, when men still lived in tribes, knowing details about other tribe members helped us survive. Nowadays, knowing the damaging details helps us win against the competition. “Dr. John Schafer (behavioral expert at the FBI) says it’s even more simple: it helps us to advance our status at the cost of another. For high school, it lets you feel superior to another in the small ecosystem that is YLHS,” says Mr. Walls (Staff). 

Gossip also feeds into what is called a ‘confirmation bias.’ Often, we hear something negative about someone we don’t like.  This allows us to not only be right but it also provides us with negative information about someone who we see as unpleasant or as a rival.  “Interestingly, it also serves to discourage behavior that social groups don’t want to see. Think of it as a type of collective social operant conditioning where behavior we deem unacceptable or unfavorable is met with the positive punishment of gossip and rumors. Dr. Robert Trivers, in a 2012 journal article in  The Quarterly Review of Biology, said that we discourage free riders (i.e., someone who isn’t doing enough work) by shaming these individuals through gossip and ostracism,” continues Mr. Walls (Staff).

Next: Why do people involve themselves in other people’s drama or love starting their own? Oftentimes, being involved in drama provides a distraction from your personal life. It’s almost like a form of emotional procrastination: by involving yourself in someone else’s problems, you’re able to avoid acknowledging your own.  “It’s actually very similar to someone who loves roller coasters or rock climbing, but in a social sense,” says Mr. Walls (Staff).  Almost like how social media draws our attention away from important things, drama demands attention.

Being involved in drama makes us feel important. When we’re involved, we are the center of attention, and when the focus isn’t on us, it’s still fun to run around behind the scenes and start a fire. “The spotlight is on us after all, and when it’s not, it’s still fun to get on stage as part of the supporting cast. We all love being famous, but being infamous is almost as good, sometimes better,” says Mr. Walls (Staff).