Does Explicit Concern Help Women Compete For Prestige?

<p>Research on women's competition indirect aggression and gossip has uncovered a perplexing</p><p>pattern: women deny their own competitiveness and gossip but openly acknowledge that of</p><p>other women. The current investigation proposed one solution to this paradox: women's</p><p>unawareness of their competitive and malicious motivations grants a competitive advantage in</p><p>female intrasexual reputation competition. Gossipers who express concern for their targets can</p><p>preserve their own social desirability while simultaneously transmitting information that harms</p><p>their target's reputation. Two online studies tested this theory by examining the prevalence and</p><p>efficacy of concern motivations within gossip. Study 1 tested the prediction that women would</p><p>assert greater concern relative to malicious motivations for gossiping by comparing male and</p><p>female participants' perceptions of their own and others' social conversation motivations.</p><p>Indeed compared to men women endorsed stronger concern motivations and lower reputationharming</p><p>motivations when gossiping. Moreover women were especially likely to assert</p><p>benevolent intentions when discussing same-sex peers compared to men suggesting these</p><p>motivations characterize women's gossip about same-sex rivals. Study 2 tested the competitive</p><p>efficacy of ostensible concern motivations. Male and female participants evaluated female</p><p>gossipers and their targets across three hypothetical gossip scenarios. The framing of the</p><p>gossiper's statement was experimentally manipulated such that she delivered her information</p><p>with concern with malice or neutrally. Consistent with predictions gossip delivered with</p><p>concern enhanced perceptions of the gossiper's trustworthiness interpersonal desirability and</p><p>romantic desirability compared to gossip delivered neutrally or maliciously. Taken together</p><p>these findings suggest women's belief in their prosocial motivations for gossiping is a socially</p><p>advantageous strategy for female intrasexual reputation competition.</p>