Malicious mouths? The Dark Triad and motivations for gossip

The Dark Triad and Facebook surveillance: How Machiavellianism, psychopathy, but not narcissism predict using Facebook to spy on others

“…So, we hypothesise that those high in this trait will be more likely to engage in Facebook surveillance (H1) as by doing so they can increase their repertoire of "advantageous" information they possess. Those high in this trait also tend to enjoy gossip (Lyons & Hughes, 2015)-the discussing of absent third parties (Foster, 2004).…”

Are we truly wicked when gossiping at work? The role of valence, interpersonal closeness and social awareness

“…The importance of analyzing gossip valence (i.e., sign) is consistent with the acknowledgement of different types of gossip which have been conceptualized so far. However, while most authors limit their attention to the analysis of positive and negative gossip (e.g., Grosser et al, 2012), in this paper we take a further step and include the investigation of malicious and non-malicious gossip, the empirical analysis of which is still scarce in the literature (a few exceptions can be found in Low et al, 2010;Lyons & Hughes, 2015;Smith, 2014). While positive gossip consists of communicating favorable news about others (e.g., praising the absent individual, defending a colleague), negative gossip tends to emphasize the undesirable side of others' actions and behaviors (Ellwardt, Steglich, & Wittek, 2012).…”

“…Further, most research examines gossip valence as being positive vs. negative (e.g., Ellwardt, Labianca, & Wittek, 2011;Wu et al, 2016), thereby leaving room for studying further valenced nuances, such as the gossip maliciousness. In this regard, existing works on malicious gossip have proposed theoretical arguments (Wert & Salovey, 2004), applied discourse analysis (Guendozi, 2001), developed surveys (Lyons & Hughes, 2015), implemented multiagent models (Smith, 2014) or observational techniques (Low, Frey, & Brockman, 2010). To our knowledge, scholars have therefore overlooked the usefulness of experimental research for the analysis of gossip at work considered as an organizational behavior (Thau, Pitesa, & Pillutla, 2014).…”

Virtual gossip: How gossip regulates moral life in virtual worlds

“…This can be, for instance, girls competing against each other (Hess & Hagen, 2006) or in the context of sexual competition (Buss & Dedden, 1990). Having a competitive personality can also be a driving force to use gossip to exert negative influence over others (Lyons & Hughes, 2015). This self-regarding use of gossip is established both by sharing negative and positive gossip.…”