Tan Huibang, Jiang Tianxiang, Ma Ning
Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory of Reading and Development in Children and Adolescents (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health & Cognitive Science, School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.
State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Br J Soc Psychol. 2023 Apr;62(2):708-724. doi: 10.1111/bjso.12589. Epub 2022 Oct 14.
Gossip, sharing information about an absent person, is an important way of spreading reputational information, crucial in fostering human cooperation. However, why should information possessors engage in gossip, and why should they be honest? We addressed this question based on a reputational account. In study 1, we found that when observed by potential investors, people were willing to pay more to share reputational information with those in need. Moreover, engaging in gossip did confer reputational benefits for gossipers by receiving more trust from investors, and gossipers' willingness to gossip predicted their subsequent trustworthiness. Study 2 further verified that observability promoted only honest information sharing and deterred dishonest gossiping. Consistently, only honest gossipers were trusted more, while dishonest gossipers were perceived to be even less trustworthy than non-gossipers, and only the motivation for honest gossiping could reflect gossipers' trustworthiness. These findings suggest that reputation can provide a solution to encourage gossiping and secure honesty.
八卦，即分享关于不在场之人的信息，是传播声誉信息的重要方式，对促进人类合作至关重要。然而，信息拥有者为何要参与八卦，以及他们为何要保持诚实呢？我们基于声誉理论探讨了这个问题。在研究1中，我们发现，当被潜在投资者观察时，人们愿意支付更多费用与有需要的人分享声誉信息。此外，参与八卦确实能为八卦者带来声誉上的好处，即从投资者那里获得更多信任，而且八卦者参与八卦的意愿预示了他们随后的可信赖程度。研究2进一步证实，可观察性仅促进诚实的信息分享，并抑制不诚实的八卦行为。一致的是，只有诚实的八卦者会被更多地信任，而不诚实的八卦者被认为比不参与八卦的人更不值得信赖，并且只有诚实八卦的动机才能反映八卦者的可信赖程度。这些发现表明，声誉可以为鼓励八卦和确保诚实提供一种解决方案。
