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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EVILTONGUE (No Sword Bites So Fiercly as an Evil Tongue?Gossip Wrecks Reputation, but Enhances Cooperation)

Teaser

Summary

Social norms in general and norms of cooperation in particular, are the cement of all human societies. For the difficult problems of the maintenance and enforcement of social norms and of cooperation, humans have developed surprisingly complex solutions. Reputation mechanisms and gossip are certainly among the compound informal solutions.
According to common wisdom, gossip channels mainly negative and often fictitious information. If it is the case: how can dishonest gossip and the resulting biased reputations legitimize social order and promote cooperation?
This is the main puzzle we tackle in this project exploiting a wide set of instruments. We use analytical modeling and agent-based simulation to derive hypotheses. We test simple hypotheses in small group experiments. We develop new methodological tools to appropriately analyze the triadic nature of gossip embedded in network flows of information. We utilize dynamic network datasets from primary and secondary school classes, and we gather qualitative and quantitative information from organizations to test conditional hypotheses about the role that gossip plays in reputation and cooperation in different developmental and social contexts of life. In addition, we apply new communication technologies currently under development to explore the hidden world of gossip and the dynamics of reputation in dormitories and organizations.
With the insights gained, we can overcome common stereotypes about gossip and highlight how gossip is related to credible reputational signals, cooperation, and social order. Expected results will help us to outline the conditions that can promote cooperation in work groups, and they will help to construct successful prevention strategies for social exclusion and for other potentially harmful consequences of the evil tongue.

Work performed

We have performed theoretical and empirical work for the investigation of our main research questions following the working plan in seven subprojects.
1. We have started to develop new theoretical foundations for the scientific study of gossip and reputation based on signaling theory, on the theory of indirect reciprocity, on the social embeddedness of interactions, and their relations to social order and cooperation. Desk research activities included literature review (in the form of reading groups).
2. Besides theory development, we have designed, built, and analyzed agent-based models. SzÃ¡madÃ³, Szalai, and Scheuring (2016, PLOS One) have developed and analyzed simulation models for the investigation of the relationship between honest (dishonest) communication, reputation, and cooperation. They found that deception undermines the stability of cooperation established by indirect reciprocity and reputation mechanisms. Righi and TakÃ¡cs (2017, ECMS Proceedings) have analyzed different indirect reciprocity strategies that use local or global reputation information. They found that indirect reciprocity strategies built on local reputation information are more successful and able to maintain cooperation.
3. We designed and run the first series of experiments that involved controlled forms of gossip and investigated its impact on cooperation using the classical Prisonerâ€™s Dilemma game. We continued and designed the second experiments to test simple hypotheses about the relationship between gossip, reputation, and cooperation (with FlÃ³ra Samu and Szabolcs SzÃ¡madÃ³).
4. We have started to conceptualize the ways how triadic network data, such as gossip, could be analyzed statistically in self-reported surveys about a certain period and in time-stamped relational event data.
5. We have written a review chapter on gossip and reputation in the school context for the Handbook of Gossip and Reputation (Oxford University Press). We have utilized network panel data collected by our research group in primary and secondary school classes on gossip and reputation (with Laura Boldvai-Pethes and AndrÃ¡s VÃ¶rÃ¶s). We have extended the primary school data gathering with two additional waves in 2016 and 2017. In our analyses, we found that reputational concerns play a strong role in the establishment of informal social order in the well-bounded communities of the classroom. PÃ¡l, Stadtfeld, Grow, and TakÃ¡cs (2016, Journal of Research on Adolescence) found that the discrepancy between direct status attributions (whom do individuals look up to) and the perceived status hierarchy plays a prominent role in the development of disliking and hate. Grow, PÃ¡l, and TakÃ¡cs (2016, Social Psychology Quarterly) and Kisfalusi, Janky, and TakÃ¡cs (submitted) found that informal communication in social networks is responsible for the ability perceptions of third-party individuals and these ability perceptions are easily generalized to gender and ethnic groups.
6. We re-analyzed and newly gathered information on gossip and reputations in organizations (with BorÃ³ka PÃ¡pay, Eliza Bodor-Eranus, Eszter Vit, MÃ¡rta RadÃ³, JÃºlia GalÃ¡ntai, Laura Boldvai-Pethes, and Zsuzsanna Szvetelszky). We have approached several business organizations and have conducted surveys in five of them. Our preliminary analyses show the importance of wage perceptions on gossip and reputation (with BorÃ³ka PÃ¡pay); and the importance of opinion brokers (with Eliza Bodor-Eranus and RÃ³bert Pethes).
7. Self-reports and even ethnographic observations might largely be biased because of the confidentiality inherent in gossip. We therefore make a pioneering use of wearable devices (smartwatches) for gathering reliable information on social interactions. As planned, we have prepared and submitted a detailed description of the project to the Hungarian National Authority for Data Protection and Freedom of Information requesting an ethical audit. As expected, after failed attempts we have gain

Final results

We started to develop models that are able to explain why and under which conditions honest gossip is viable; how and under which structural conditions it enhances cooperation and contributes to the maintenance of social order. In this endeavor, we combined and built on insights gained in various disciplines.
Our model results have demonstrated that the ideal world in which self-emerging reputation systems solve the problem of large-scale cooperation is illusionary. The possibility of deception makes the evolution of cooperation via indirect reciprocity and reputation mechanisms extremely fragile (SzÃ¡madÃ³ et al., 2016, PLOS One). In line with previous literature, we have also shown that direct reciprocity is able to overcome the problem of cooperation, but this solution is problematic due to the unrealistic assumption of complete information on every potential interaction partner in a large scale society. Hence, we have pursued the investigation of indirect reciprocity based reputation mechanisms further. We found that strategies that utilize local rather than global reputational information are more successful and able to establish large scale cooperation (Righi and TakÃ¡cs, 2017, ECMS Proceedings).
Our school and organizational studies have demonstrated that gossip and reputation systems are not independent of the goals individuals strive for in the specific context. A discrepancy between the informal status order and direct personal status attribution to other peers is a particularly important determinant of dislike and negative ties (PÃ¡l et al., 2016, Journal of Research on Adolescence) and gossip (Kisfalusi, PÃ¡l, and TakÃ¡cs, submitted to Handbook of Gossip and Reputation). Reputational status concerns are often generalized to other members of the group of the target via social network mechanisms (Grow, PÃ¡l, and TakÃ¡cs, 2016, Social Psychology Quarterly; Kisfalusi, Janky, and TakÃ¡cs, submitted). In the organizational context, wage seems to be crucial (PÃ¡pay and TakÃ¡cs, 2017, EGOS conference paper).
In order to record and analyze the factual patterns of gossip and their relation to reputation and cooperation, we make an innovative use of smartwatches for social science research. This innovative use of cutting edge technologies will make it possible to explore the world of social conversations in a more precise and objective way than ever been done before. We have invested in the development of a Bluetooth distance-based application that makes the ethical and controlled way of recording and saving conversations possible among informed and consented participants. Our technological innovation for the study of social interactions is likely to have a wide impact on social science research methodology. Our study is likely to establish standards of ethical guidelines, data use, and analysis. Our technological developments will provide access for other researchers to research questions they could not address before due to measurement problems. In short, the perspectives we open up will truly fertilize social science research in similar as well as other domains.