“Not born beautiful”: what makes women gossip
Psychologists have discovered why women gossip.
Women of all ages are spreading rumors about potential opponents in the pursuit of male attention, found psychologists. They attribute this to women’s lack of confidence and historical situation. The researchers hope the new data will allow the women themselves to reconsider relations with each other.
Young and adult women dismiss rumors of potential rivals, competing for men’s attention, were discovered by American psychologists. The results were published in the journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
Earlier studies, which were considered 137 different cultures, found that women’s competition for a romantic relationship with a man present in 91% of them.
“Historically, the prosperity of the family depended on the woman’s partner’s — says Tanya Reynolds, the study’s lead author. Today it no longer plays such a big role — women gained access to education and work. However, the loss of one of the sources of family income reduces the amount of resources for the education of children, and divorce is a very stressful event.
So hold partner still affects the life of a woman and her family.
In addition, a woman’s reputation is still the determining factor in whether it to be in a romantic relationship, friendship or professional success. Our study shows that gossip can significantly change the perception of women in society. People tend to attach greater significance of negative information about the person, because I think it says a lot more about the character than positive facts.
Reynolds spent five studies that found that young girls in the same way that adult women tend to gossip about other girls.
They are more inclined to disseminate information, discrediting the reputation if a beautiful woman, dressed provocatively or flirting with their partner. Besides, the more women in General are prone to competition, the more willing she is spreading gossip.
NovoTEK to protect yourself from gossip
In the first study involved 111 people — 48 men and 63 women 19-65 years. Participants were shown photos of attractive women named Francesca. They were asked to imagine that this woman appeared in their midst and to rate on a seven-point scale of her moral character, her desire to be friends with her to engage in sexual relations, Dating and marriage (women to vote only on the first two paragraphs).
Then followed them again to assess their intentions in accordance with 10 statements about the personality and lifestyle of Francesca. Some of them described her as a woman who sleeps around, cheats on her young man, prone to obesity and suspects that she is pregnant. In other said that she donates money to charity, speaks four languages, travels around the world and sings beautifully.
As expected, the statements, put Francesca in a negative light, pushed her from men, like the assumption of pregnancy.
The tendency to obesity had no impact on men’s interest, but suddenly made Francesca more attractive for women. Also had women and information about possible pregnancy.
Interestingly, the desire to be friends with travelling around the world Francesca men appreciated by 5.58 points (the highest score of all 10 statements), and to engage in sexual relations only by 3.85. The opportunity to marry the presumably pregnant Francesca men gave 2.17 points, while if Francesca wasn’t pregnant but had an STD or cheated on a previous partner, she didn’t even scored 1.5 points.