PART II

EMPIRICAL PAPERS

PAPER 8

Media mating gossip:

sex differences in topics gossiped about for male and female celebrity gossipees, and sex differences in interest from the receivers

Abstract

In the context of mating, both men and women first of all face problems of assessing the real intentions of potential partners. Second, both men and women have to compete with same-sex competitors. Third, infidelity in sexual relationships is an essential problem of individual reproduction. I have suggested how specific kinds of Mating Gossip can solve these problems. Mating Gossip can function to teach receivers about successful or unsuccessful strategies or about the reputation of specific gossipees and how to manipulate these reputations.

Because men and women desire different traits in their search for potential mates, sex differences can be expected in Mating Gossip topics gossiped between male/female gossipees, and in interest between male/female receivers. These predictions hold not only for real social network members, but also for celebrities. Celebrity gossip appeals to us because we can learn from their strategies, and because some establish parasocial relationships with celebrities.

I presented N= 534 respondents aged under 31 some Mating Gossip stories about celebrities and measured their interest on a 1-7 Likert scale. My results show that interest in gossip about the physical attractiveness, ability to invest and willingness to invest of female and male celebrity gossipees is equal. Second, no sex differences in the interest from the receivers’ side are found for these kinds of gossip information. Third, respondents show significant more interest in the emotional infidelity of a male than a female celebrity gossipee. But in contrast to the prediction, respondents showed most interest in the sexual infidelity of a male rather than a female celebrity gossipee. Last, significant sex differences are found from the receivers’ interest in gossip about sexual and emotional infidelity, with female respondents being most interested.

1 Introduction

1.1 Mating Gossip

Sexual Selection Theory focuses on the search for potential mates between the sexes (intersexual selection) and the competition between same-sex individuals in this process (intrasexual competition) (Buss & Schmitt, 1993). In chapter 4 I have put forward how gossip can be a problem solver in both domains.

I have classified gossip as a general noun in sub-definitions according to functional design. On a first level I distinguish Strategy Learning Gossip and Reputation Gossip. The first category focuses on the exchange of behavioral strategies. Gossipees of Strategy Learning Gossip (SLG) are mere carriers of fitness-relevant information on how to behave and how not to behave in terms of securing and promoting your fitness. Reputation Gossip (RG) serves to inform about the reputations of specific other individuals that are part of our social networks, and to manipulate these reputations. I have narrowed both forms of gossip further down to more specific sub-categories. Mating SLG is a sub category of SLG in general, and Mating RG is a sub-category within the range of RG.

Mating SLG functions to exchange information about strategies that can teach receivers how to act successfully when searching for a potential mate or competing with same-sex rivals. From the doings of others in the context of human mating we can vicariously learn what to mimic and which strategies we should not mimic because they are not successful.

Mating RG is an overall noun that covers different specialized forms of information, all of which function to either teach receivers about the reputations of social network members as potential mates or same-sex rivals, or to enable senders to manipulate these reputations. Here, I focus on Mating RG that is in benefit of receivers. The specific forms of Mating RG that are useful for receivers, because information about the reputation of potential mates and same-sex rivals is given, are Mates Detection RG, Mating Structure RG, Sexual Rival Detection RG, and Mates Control RG. Mates Detection RG serves to detect potential mates by transmitting information about the reputation of a potential mate.

Mating Structure RG concerns information about who is dating whom. This form of gossip requires at least two gossipees, and is useful to learn when mate poaching might be an option. Even when they are engaged in a long term relationship, both men and women may still seek for potential extra mates. Cuckoldry has occurrence rates of 10% in some cultures (see Baker and Bellis, 1995).

Sexual Rival Detection RG concerns information about the reputation of threatening same-sex competitors in our search for potential mates. Mates Control RG focuses on the cheating behavior (emotional and/or sexual) of our mates and the mates of others.

1.2 Mating Gossip and sex differences for gossipers and gossipees

Mating Gossip, embracing both Mating SLG and Mating RG, is an interesting field of study when one wants to focus on sex differences in topics gossiped about for male/female gossipees, and sex differences in interest in these topics from male/female respondents. I discuss which sex differences can be expected for gossipees and gossipers, with a focus on the receivers’ side, in the context of the exchange of information about potential mates (Mates Detection RG) and potential rivals (Sexual Rival Detection RG), as well as in the context of cheating behavior of own or other’s mates (Mates Control RG).

1.2.1 Information about potential mates and sexual rivals

Men and women desire different traits in their search for potential mates (Buss, 1994; Symons, 1979). Sex differences in traits desired of potential mates are due to biological different trade-offs for men and women in their search for potential mates.

From a biological perspective, men gain more benefit than women by having multiple partners, since men benefit most from potential female partners with high fertility and reproductive value (Buss & Schmitt, 1993; Buss, 1994). Fertility and reproductive value are both disguised features. Therefore men are faced with the problem of estimating these features by relying on cues that signal high fertility and high reproductive value. Cues that signal fertility and reproductive value include for instance youthfulness and physical attractiveness. Our male ancestors are those men that succeeded throughout our evolutionary past in detecting these cues in our female ancestors. Their preferences for young and attractive women shaped the desires of men nowadays (Buss, 1994):

Our ancestors had access to two types of observable evidence of a woman's health and youth: features of physical appearance, such as full lips, clear skin, smooth skin, clear eyes, lustrous hair, and a good muscle tone, and features of behavior, such as a bouncy, youthful gait, an animated facial expression, and a high energy level. These physical cues to youth and health, and hence to reproductive capacity, constitute the ingredients of male standards of female beauty. (Buss, 1994: 53)

Although women also desire attractiveness in their search for potential mates, this cue is on average not as dominantly important for them as it is for men. On average, women, more than men, desire traits that signal wealth status and willingness to invest in their search for potential male mates. Cues that signal men’s ability to invest are, as Buss (1999: 105) says, good financial prospects (at least in our modern societies), social status, older age, ambition, size, and strength. Townsend and Levy (1990a,b) have experimentally shown that women indeed prefer men with abilities to invest over men who lack these abilities.

In this study, I will focus on ‘physical attractiveness’ as a desired trait for potential female partners and on ‘abilities to invest’ and ‘willingness to invest’ as desired traits for potential male partners. Based on the sex differences in desired traits, I expect that women will be more target of gossip about their physical attractiveness, while men will be more often gossipees of gossip about their wealth status and willingness to invest. In paper 3 of this dissertation I have already shown that students indeed recall more about the physical attractiveness of female gossipees and about the wealth status of male gossipees.

In the context of Mating SLG, it can be expected that female receivers will be most interested in information about strategies of other women that increased or decreased their physical attractiveness. From the successes and failures in the context of physical attractiveness of other women, female receivers can learn how to improve their own physical attractiveness. Likewise it can be expected that male receivers will be more interested in information about the successful strategies of other men in their search of potential mates. Because men’s most important assets are abilities and willingness to invest, it can be expected that male receivers will be especially interested in information about the strategies of other men affecting these desirable traits in a positive or negative sense. From the successes and failures of other men’s use of their wealth status, male receivers can learn what to mimic and which strategies are better avoided.

From the perspective of Mates Detection RG, information about the abilities and willingness to invest of men is valuable for women in their search for potential mates. The same information is valuable for men as well, not in their search for potential mates (my focus here is on heterosexual relationships), but in the context of detecting threatening same-sex rivals. Similarly, men will value information about the physical attractiveness of other women as Mates Detection RG, while women will value this information as Sexual Rival Detection RG.

In sum, sex differences can be expected for gossipees of Mates Detection RG and Sexual Rival Detection RG, with men being more subject to information about their abilities and willingness to invest and women being more subject to information about their physical attractiveness. From the receivers’ side, sex differences in both specific forms of Mating RG are likely as well. For Mates Detection RG, women will be most interested in information about the wealth status and investment willingness of male gossipees, while men will have an average higher interest for gossip about the physical attractiveness of female gossipees. For Sexual Rival Detection RG the exact opposite sex differences can be expected at the receivers’ side. Men will value information about the abilities and willingness to invest about their same-sex rivals, while women will be more interested in information about the physical attractiveness of female competitors. In general this adds up to no actual sex difference from the receivers’ perspective in interest in information about the physical attractiveness of female gossipees and the wealth status and willingness to invest of male gossipees. Although for different reasons, both male and female receivers will value this kind of information.

1.2.2 Information about emotional and sexual cheating

Infidelity in sexual relationships is an essential problem of individual reproduction. It has been suggested (e.g. Buss 1994, 1999, 2000, Symons, 1979) that jealousy functions to solve this problem. It has further been proposed that a sex difference in jealousy is common among humans. Women tend to feel more jealous towards a mate’s emotional infidelity, whereas men generally have stronger emotions in response to a mate’s sexual infidelity. A body of research experiments has verified and supported this thinking (e.g. Buss, 1988; Buss & Shackelford, 1997; Buunk, et al, 1996; Dijkstra & Buunk, 2001; Pietrzak, et al, 2002; Shackelford, Buss & Bennett, 2002; Schützwohl & Koch, 2004).

In chapter 4, I have suggested that gossip can also solve the problem of infidelity in the context of human mating. What I labeled Mates Control RG concerns information about the infidel behavior of a gossipee. Mates Control RG is valuable to detect cheaters, which is especially difficult in larger social settings. Exchanging information about the infidel behavior of others, infidelity can be more easily detected. Individuals benefit if gossip can detect the deceitful actions of their mates or the deceitful actions of allies’ mates.

Since emotional cheating is most threatening to women whose mate is infidel, I expect that Mates Control RG about the emotional infidelity of a gossipee will elicit most interest when it concerns a male rather than a female gossipee. Likewise, since sexual cheating implies the highest costs to those men with infidel mates, I assume that Mates Control RG about the sexual cheating strategy of a gossipee will appeal most when the gossipee is female rather than male.

1.3 Mating Gossip about celebrities: the Learning and Parasocial Hypotheses

That we are not only attracted to Mating Gossip about real life social network members stems from the fact that gossip about the love lives of celebrities is dominantly present in Media Gossip (Levin & Kimmel, 1977; and see results of paper 4). And, as I have shown in paper 5, gossip about celebrities (Celebrity Gossip) is not only present in Media Gossip, transmitted through media channels; it also invades Interpersonal Gossip conversations between two or more individuals interacting with each other.

As I have argued extensively in chapter 7 and in previous papers, I distinguish between two hypotheses that explain our interest in gossip about celebrities. To resume, the Learning Hypothesis explains the interest of all receivers of gossip about celebrities by focusing on the learning effect. Every individual benefits from gaining experience information that other individuals have tested. We all fill up our behavioral repertoire with the trial and errors of others to save time and energy by testing which strategies are successful and which are not. The Parasocial Hypothesis adds to this general interest an additional interest from those respondents who know the gossipees of Celebrity Gossip. That is, some individuals establish one-way or parasocial interactions with some celebrities. They express emotional feelings towards these celebrities, and follow up on their daily habits because they consider these celebrities as being part of their social networks, as some kind of one-way friends or one-way foes. Gossip about celebrities appeals for the same reasons as does gossip about real life social network members. We want to learn from the behaviours of others and we want to learn about specific others’ reputations and manipulate these reputations.

2 Hypotheses

Based on the above, I now put forward some predictions concerning sex differences in gossipers and gossipees of Mating Gossip about celebrities.

Starting with the expected sex differences in celebrity gossipees, both the Learning and Parasocial Hypotheses predict the same differences, but for different reasons. They both predict that female gossipees will be more subject to gossip about their physical appearance and sexual cheating behavior.

The Learning Hypothesis predicts this since other female receivers can learn from celebrity females’ strategies how to attract mates; how to dress to impress other men, how to behave to attract men and so on (Mating SLG).

The Parasocial Hypothesis predicts that male receivers will be interested in gossip about the physical appearance of female celebrities because they get information on the mate value of potential one-way mates (Mates Detection RG). The Parasocial Hypothesis predicts an interest from female receivers in gossip about the physical appearance of female media gossipees so to learn who their one-way rivals are and to acquire information they can use to slander their one-way rivals (Sexual Rival Detection RG).

Hypothesis 1a:

Interest in gossip about physical attractiveness will be higher for female celebrity gossipees than for male celebrity gossipees.

Subsequently, both the Learning and Parasocial Hypotheses predict male media gossipees to be more subject of gossip about their wealth status. The Learning Hypothesis predicts this by claiming that other male receivers can learn how to acquire and use resources to attract potential female mates, by getting strategy information from the trials and errors of male celebrities (Mating SLG).

The Parasocial Hypothesis here again predicts equal interest from male and female receivers in gossip about the wealth status of male celebrities. For female receivers this reputation information teaches them the mate value of known potential one-way mates (Mates Detection RG). For male receivers this reputation information about the ability and willingness to invest of other males teaches receivers about potential one-way rivals (Sexual Rival Detection RG).

Hypothesis 1b:

Interest in gossip about abilities and willingness to invest will be higher for male celebrity gossipees than for female celebrity gossipees.

If we focus on sex differences on the receivers’ side, the Learning Hypothesis predicts a sex difference for some forms of Mates Detection Gossip. As I have explained above, women will be more interested in the mating strategies of other women they can or should not mimic. These strategies concern those that affect physical appearance, since this is generally most important for women. Men will be more interested in the successful and unsuccessful mating actions of other men, and more specifically in the strategies of other men that affect their wealth status.

Hypothesis 2a:

Female respondents will show more interest in gossip about the physical appearance of female celebrity gossipees than male respondents

Hypothesis 2b:

Male respondents will show more interest in gossip about the investment abilities and willingness of male celebrity gossipees than female respondents

In contradiction to this, the Parasocial Hypothesis expects no sex differences to occur at the receivers’ side. Both men and women value information about the abilities and willingness to invest of male gossipees and about the physical attractiveness of female gossipees. Information about the physical appearance of female gossipees and wealth status of male gossipees can inform receivers about the gossipee’s reputation as a mate (Mates Detection RG), or about the reputation of a same-sex rival (Sexual Rival Detection RG). Although their motives to acquire this kind of information are clearly different, men’s and women’s interest will be equal. Their different motives do not translate into sex differences in interest in gossip about the wealth status of male gossipees and physical attractiveness of female gossipees.

Hypothesis 2c:

No sex differences in interest from male and female receivers in gossip about the physical appearance of female celebrity gossipees and gossip about the wealth status of male celebrity gossipees will occur.

I now turn to my hypotheses that concern gossip information about emotional and sexual cheating strategies of celebrities. For the gossipees of this specific kind of information, classified under Mates Control RG, I expect clear sex differences to be present. More specifically, because emotional cheating is a bigger threat to women when done by a man, I expect that the interest in gossip about emotional cheating strategies will be higher for male than for female gossipees. Likewise, because sexual cheating is more threatening to a man when done by a woman, I expect that the interest in gossip about sexual cheating strategies will be higher for female than for male gossipees.

These predictions are the same from the perspective of the Learning Hypothesis and the Parasocial Hypothesis. The first will predict that the interest stems from the fact that receivers try to learn from the gossiped about strategies. Both male and female receivers can learn about the deceptive strategies of women, and because sexual cheating of women is more costly to men than emotional cheating, the first will elicit greater attention. Likewise both men and women can learn from the emotional cheating strategies of men. The Parasocial Hypothesis predicts that the interest in the cheating strategies of gossipees will appeal to receivers because they want to learn which member of their parasocial network is a cheater.

Hypothesis 3a:

Interest in gossip about sexual cheating strategies will be higher for a female celebrity gossipee than for a male celebrity gossipee.

Hypothesis 3b:

Interest in gossip about emotional cheating strategies will be higher for a male celebrity gossipee than for a female celebrity gossipee.

From the perspective of the gossipers, and in particular from the receivers, I do not expect sex differences in interest about the emotional cheating of a male gossipee and the sexual cheating of a female gossipee.

Both female and male receivers can learn from female celebrities’ sexual cheating behavior. Receivers can learn (SLG, Learning Hypothesis) that sexual cheating can be costly to your relationship and/or to yourself. Receivers can learn how to hide sexual cheating, which is clearly relevant to female receivers, but also to male receivers. The latter can learn which deceptive strategies infidel women use. The same is true for gossip about the emotional cheating of male gossipees. Men can learn how to hide their cheating behavior, or can learn about successful and unsuccessful outcomes of cheating strategies tested by other men. Female receivers can learn from this information which cues can signal the emotional infidelity of men.

From the perspective of the Parasocial Hypothesis, male and female receivers learn about the mate-value of potential one-way mates (bad reputation as unreliable). Receivers also benefit from cheating strategy information if the media gossipee is a one-way rival of them. They can then use this information to lower the reputation of same-sex rivals. That is why both men and women will be interested in the cheating behavior of both male and female gossipees. Men will be interested in the sexual infidelity of female gossipees so to learn that these gossipees are unreliable and have a bad reputation as a mate. Men will be interested in the emotional infidelity of male gossipees so to use this information in their battle with same-sex rivals. Women will be interested in the sexual infidelity of other women as well for use in same-sex competition over potential mates. And finally, women will be interested in the emotional infidelity of male gossipees so to learn which individuals have bad reputation as a mate.

Summarizing the predictions for sex differences in interest from male and female receivers, both the Learning and Parasocial Hypotheses predict an equal interest in gossip about the emotional cheating behavior of male celebrities and sexual cheating behavior of female celebrities:

Hypothesis 4:

No sex differences in interest from male and female receivers for gossip about the emotional cheating of male celebrity gossipees and the sexual cheating of female celebrity gossipees is expected.

3 Methodology

To test my hypotheses I made use of a sub population of the dataset I have described in previous papers 5 and 6. I made use of the data on interest in presented Media Gossip that was collected by distributing an anonymous questionnaire to 104 American UCSB students and 838 Belgian (Flemish) respondents. I distributed 2 versions of the survey (A and B), with similar stories, but different (opposite sex) characters.

From this population of N=942 I only selected those respondents under age 31. The first reason for selecting only adolescents and young adults is because this specific study concerns an interest in celebrity gossipees of Mating Gossip. Mating Gossip, and especially the Mates Detection RG I focus on, is most relevant for individuals who are in search of a potential mate. On average this is more likely to be the case for younger rather than for older respondents. In paper 1, I have discussed how Mating Gossip is more frequently used by younger than by older respondents. Second, from the results of paper 5 and paper 6 it follows that younger respondents are most interested in gossip about celebrities. Especially paper 5 shows that younger respondents are most interested in gossip about international celebrities, and my presented gossip stories concern international celebrities.

For each media gossip story I discuss here, all of my respondents were asked about their interest in this specific piece of information. They were asked to indicate their interest on a 1-7 Likert scale with “1” indicating no interest and “7” very high interest. More detailed information about the gossip stories used for this study can be found in the discussion of my results, where I present each gossip story used in survey A and B.

4 Results

4.1 Populations profiles according to sex and age of the respondents

After selecting the adolescents and young adults from my overall N=942 population, I retained N= 534 respondents aged under 31. Of these 247 (46.25%) were male and 287 (53.75%) were female, which is an almost equal distribution of the sexes. Of the N= 534 respondents, N_A= 243 filled out survey version A. This subpopulation also has an equal male/female distribution as well (120 or 49.38% male and 123 or 50.62% female respondents). The mean age of this subpopulation is M_ageA= 21.08 (S.D.= 3.36; min. age 13 and max. age 30).

Version B of the survey was filled out by N_B= 291 respondents younger than 31. Of these 127 (43.6%) were male and 164 (56.4%) female. The mean age of this sub population is M_ageB= 21.19 (S.D.= 3.73; min. age 10 and max. age 30).

Using Statistica Other Significance Tests for the Difference Between Two Means and for the Difference Between Two Proportions, I could not find significant differences for the age and sex distribution of the subpopulations of respondents who filled out survey A or survey B.

4.2 Results for gossip about mating cues

To test my first hypotheses (1a and 1b), I compared the mean interest between similar gossip stories with different characters. To test the interest in gossip about physical attractiveness, I presented my respondents who filled out survey A two stories on the physical attractiveness of both a male (Benicio Del Torro) and a female (Catherine Zeta Jones) celebrity gossipee. The exact same stories I presented in survey A were also presented in survey B, but with an opposite sex gossipee. I replaced “Benicio Del Torro” by “Virginie Ledoyen” and “Catherine Zeta Jones” by “George Clooney” (see table 7.1).

Table 7.1. Mean interest in gossip about the physical attractiveness of male and female celebrity gossipees

*Statistica Other Significance Tests for Difference Between Two Means

From my results, it follows that interest in gossip about the physical attractiveness of celebrity gossipees is the same for both male and female celebrity gossipees. For both of the gossip stories on physical attractiveness I have presented, there is some indication that the mean interest is higher when it concerns a female celebrity than a male celebrity (especially for the second gossip story), but the differences are extremely small and non-significant. Hypothesis 1a cannot be confirmed.

To test hypothesis 1b I presented my respondents from survey A with two stories about the investment abilities of a male (Tom Hanks) and a female (Victoria Beckham) gossipee, and one gossip story about the investment abilities and willingness of a female gossipee (Keely Shaye Brosnan). The exact same gossip stories were replicated again in survey B with opposite sex gossipees. I replaced “Victoria Beckham” with “David Beckham”, “Tom Hanks” with “Jennifer Aniston”, and “Keely Shaye Brosnan” with her husband “Pierce Brosnan” (see tables 7.2 and 7.3).

Table 7.2. Mean interest in gossip about the investment abilities of male and female celebrity gossipees

*Statistica Other Significance Tests for Difference Between Two Means

In the results for gossip about the investment abilities of male and female celebrity gossipees, I did find significant sex differences for the celebrity gossipees. For the first story (with Victoria of David Beckham as gossipee) the interest was significantly higher (p<.001 using Statistica Other Significance Tests for Difference Between Two Means) for the male celebrity gossipee (David Beckham) than for the female celebrity gossipee (Victoria Beckham). This difference is in line with what I predicted in hypothesis 1b. However, when looking at the results for the second Mating Gossip story on investment abilities (with Tom Hanks and Jennifer Aniston as gossipees), I cannot confirm my prediction 1b. Again, the difference in interest for the male (Tom Hanks) and female (Jennifer Aniston) gossipees of this Mating Gossip story is significantly (p<.05 using Statistica Other Significance Tests for Difference Between Two Means, see table 7.2) different, but here the interest is highest for the female gossipee (Jennifer Aniston vs. Tom Hanks), which contradicts my prediction 1b.

Also, with regard to interest in the gossip story about the investment abilities and willingness of a female (Keely Shaye Brosnan, survey A) and male (Pierce Brosnan, survey B) gossipee, I could not find results in support of my prediction 1b. No significant difference in interest could be found when presenting this story with a female gossipee or a male gossipee as investor (see table 7.3).

Table 7.3. Mean interest in gossip about the investment abilities and willingness of a male and a female celebrity gossipee

*Statistica Other Significance Tests for Difference Between Two Means

Turning to hypotheses 2a, 2b and 2c, I selected the gossip stories about the physical attractiveness of female celebrity gossipees and the gossip stories about the investment abilities and willingness of male gossipees and tested the difference in interest from male and female respondents for these stories, using an Independent Samples T-Test for Equality of Means.

Table 7.4. Sex differences in mean interest in gossip about the physical attractiveness of a female celebrity gossipee

* Independent Samples T-Test for Equality of Means.

Looking at the results for sex differences regarding interest in gossip about physical attractiveness of female celebrity gossipees and the investment abilities of male celebrity gossipees, I could not find any significant differences between the interest of male and female respondents (see tables 7.4 and 7.5). Male and female respondents show equal interest in gossip about mating cues that signal good potential mate value. The Learning Hypothesis had predicted a greater interest from female respondents in gossip about the mate value of female celebrity gossipees and a greater interest of male respondents than female respondents in gossip about the mate value of male celebrity gossipees. This prediction cannot be confirmed with these results. By contrast, the Parasocial Hypothesis had predicted equal interest from male and female respondents in gossip about the mate value of male and female celebrity gossipees. This hypothesis is based on the idea that some regard celebrities as parasocial (one-way) members of their social network. Men are interested in the mate value of female celebrities as potential parasocial mates (Mates Detection RG) and in the mate value of threatening same-sex parasocial rivals (Sexual Rival Detection RG). Women are interested in the mate value of male celebrities as potential parasocial mates (Mates Detection RG), and in the mate value of same-sex parasocial competitors (Sexual Rival Detection RG).

Table 7.5. Sex differences in mean interest in gossip about the investment abilities of a male celebrity gossipee

* Independent Samples T-Test for Equality of Means.

I have not yet discussed the results for sex differences regarding interest in the presented gossip story about the ability and willingness to invest of a male celebrity gossipee. This is because the result for this gossip story is not in line with my other results. For this gossip story I did find a significant (p<.01; using Independent Samples T-Test for Equality of Means) difference between male and female respondents’ interest, with a higher interest from the female respondents (M_female = 1.82 vs. M_male= 1.48). This result is in line neither with my Learning nor with my Parasocial Hypothesis predictions. The Learning Hypothesis predicted a higher interest from the male respondents, while the Parasocial Hypothesis predicted an equal interest from both male and female respondents.

Table 7.6. Sex differences in mean interest in gossip about the investment abilities and willingness of a male celebrity gossipee

* Independent Samples T-Test for Equality of Means.

4.3 Results on cheating

To test my predictions 3a, 3b and 4, I used a similar research design as the designs described above. Again I compared the differences in interest for similar stories with different celebrity gossipees. To test my predictions 3a and 3b, I presented the respondents who filled out survey A (N= 243) with both a Mates Control RG story about the emotional cheating strategy of a female celebrity (Kylie Minogue) and a Mates Control RG story about the sexual cheating strategy of a male celebrity (Eric Bennett). The exact same stories were again presented to the N= 291 respondents who filled out survey B, but with opposite sex celebrity gossipees. I replaced “Kylie Minogue” with her boyfriend “Olivier Martinez”, and replaced “Eric Bennett” by “Ryan Haddon”.

The first results (see table 7.7) confirm my prediction 3a. In accordance with what I predicted, the respondents’ interest is higher for a male rather than for a female celebrity when the Mates Control RG concerns emotional cheating strategy (M_male= 2.89 vs. M_female= 2.44; p<.01 using Statistica Other Significance Tests for Difference Between Two Means; see table 7.7).

Table 7.7. Mean interest in gossip about the emotional cheating strategies of a male and female celebrity gossipee

*Statistica Other Significance Tests for Difference Between Two Means

However, hypothesis 3b cannot be confirmed. Gossip about the sexual cheating strategy of a celebrity gossipee elicits interest that is very significantly (p<.001) higher when the gossipee is male (M_male= 3.08) than when the gossipee is female (M_female= 2.50; p<.001 using Statistica Other Significance Tests for Difference Between Two Means; see table 7.8). I had forecasted the opposite effect: sexual cheating is more threatening for men when done by women. This derivable both from the Learning Hypothesis and the Parasocial Hypothesis. Nonetheless, my results cannot confirm this.

Table 7.8. Mean interest in gossip about the sexual cheating strategies of a male and female celebrity gossipee

*Statistica Other Significance Tests for Difference Between Two Means

From the receivers’ side I predicted that no sex differences would occur for the interest in the emotional cheating strategy of a male celebrity gossipee and for the interest in the sexual cheating strategy of a female celebrity gossipee. To test this, I compared the mean interests between male and female respondents for the Mates Control RG about emotional cheating with “Olivier Martinez” as male cheater, and the Mates Control RG about sexual cheating with “Ryan Haddon” as female cheater. Here, I used an Independent Samples T-Test for Equality of Means.

Hypothesis 4 cannot be confirmed by my results. Different from what I expected, no equal interest is found for male and female respondents’ interest in the presented Mates Control RG about the emotional cheating of a male gossipee and the sexual cheating of a female gossipee. In both cases, female respondents show significantly (p<.01) higher interest than male respondents (see table 7.9).

Table 7.9. Sex differences in mean interest in gossip about the investment abilities of a male celebrity gossipee

* Independent Samples T-Test for Equality of Means.

5 Conclusion

The term mating gossip covers a variety of different kinds of information concerning the traits and behaviors of other people that are fitness-relevant in the context of human mating. Mating Strategy Learning Gossip (Mating SLG) functions to teach receivers about the successful and unsuccessful mating strategies others have tested. Receivers benefit because others have invested their time and energy in such testing. Mating Reputation Gossip (Mating RG) functions to teach receivers about the reputation of gossipees as potential mates (Mates Detection RG), as potential rivals (Sexual Rival Detection RG) or as cheaters (Mates Control RG).

Men and women have different desires in traits they value when searching for a potential mate (Buss, 1994, 1999; Symons, 1979). In general, men have a stronger desire for fertile and highly reproductive women, which translates in youthful and physically attractive women, while women have a stronger preference for men able and willing to invest in them and their offspring. For both Mating SLG and Mating RG it can be expected that female gossipees will be more subject to topics concerning their physical attractiveness than male gossipees. Likewise, I expect that male gossipees of both Mating SLG and Mating RG will be more subject to topics concerning their ability and willingness to invest.

These predictions hold not only for real social network members but can be applied to celebrities as well. Our interest in gossip about celebrities can be explained by the Learning Hypothesis which says that everyone has an interest in celebrity gossip if something can be learned from their strategies. That is, if Strategy Learning Gossip is present. In addition to this, the Parasocial Hypothesis predicts that some people, and in particular those who establish parasocial (one-way) interactions with celebrities, will show an additional interest in gossip about these characters. Individuals who regard celebrities as parasocial members of their social networks will want to learn about these specific others. In the context of human mating, these respondents will want to learn about the mating reputation of their parasocial network members.

To test some of these assumptions, I put forward a series of 4 hypotheses. I presented N= 534 respondents aged under 31 with some Mating Gossip stories about celebrities and measured their interest on a 1-7 Likert scale.

In the first series of predictions I forecasted that interest in gossip topics concerning ability and willingness to invest would be highest for male celebrity gossipees. In line with this, I further predicted that gossip topics about the physical attractiveness of a gossipee would appeal most for female celebrity gossipees. This was grounded on both the hypothesis that respondents can learn from the strategies present in Mating Gossip (Learning Hypothesis) and on the idea that they can learn about specific other individuals (Parasocial Hypothesis). However, my results cannot confirm this series of predictions. Interest in gossip about the physical attractiveness of female and male celebrity gossipees is equal. The results for the interest in gossip about the ability and willingness to invest of male and female gossipees are rather mixed. For two stories where I focused on abilities to invest (wealth status), I found significant differences for male and female gossipees. For the first story, this difference was in line with my prediction: interest was higher for the male gossipee. For the second story, however, the results were in contradiction with my prediction: interest was highest for the female gossipee. The third story, which focused on ability and willingness to invest, did not result in significant sex differences. Overall, these results cannot confirm prediction 1b.

In a second series of predictions, the Learning Hypothesis had predicted a sex difference in interest in gossip about mating cues from the receivers’ side. This hypothesis specifically expects that women rather than men will be interested in gossip about the successful and unsuccessful strategies that affect the physical attractiveness of female celebrities. And men rather than women will be interested in gossip about the successful and unsuccessful strategies that affect male celebrity gossipees’ abilities and willingness to invest. However, my results do not support these predictions, but rather confirm what the Parasocial Hypothesis forecasts: no sex differences occur at the receivers’ side. The Parasocial Hypothesis predicts that men will be interested in gossip concerning the physical attractiveness of female celebrity gossipees in order to learn about the mate value of potential parasocial mates (Mates Detection RG). Men will also be interested in gossip regarding the willingness and ability of male celebrity gossipees to invest. Not to learn about the mate value of these parasocial male social network members (here focusing on heterosexual relationships), but to learn about threatening same-sex parasocial rivals. The same is true for women. Women will be interested in gossip regarding the willingness and ability to invest of male parasocial network members in order to learn about their reputation as a mate (Mates Detection RG). Women will be interested in information about the physical attractiveness of female celebrity gossipees so as to learn about threatening same-sex parasocial rivals (Sexual Rival Detection RG). As such, and although the motivation of interest of male and female respondents is different, their overall interest in Mating Gossip about the mating cues of male and female gossipees will result in equal interest. And this follows from most of my results. Only for one story, where the ability and willingness to invest of a male celebrity gossipee was presented, did I find significant sex differences. However, it was the female respondents that showed highest interest and this result in not in line with any of my predictions.

Aside of focusing on gossip about cues that signal the mate value of gossipees, I also investigated sex differences between gossipees and gossipers’ interest for cheating strategies. It has been suggested that jealousy resolves the problem of infidelity in the context of human mating. Generally women tend to be more jealous towards a mate’s emotional infidelity, whereas men generally have stronger emotions in response to a mate’s sexual infidelity (e.g. Buss 1994, 1999, 2000, Symons, 1979).

I have again suggested that gossip might be a problem solver in this domain. Sharing information about the deceitful actions of others, which I label as Mates Control RG, cheaters can be detected more easily in larger social settings. Due to the diverse costs for men and women that result from the emotional or sexual cheating of their mate, I expect that men will be the more likely gossipees of Mates Control RG about their emotional infidelity. Likewise, I expect women to be the more likely gossipees of Mates Control RG about their sexual infidelity.

Both from the perspectives of the Learning and Parasocial Hypotheses, I predicted in a third series of hypotheses that individuals would show higher interest in gossip about the emotional cheating of a male celebrity gossipee than that of a female celebrity gossipee. Similarly, I expected that interest in Mates Control RG about the sexual cheating of a female celebrity gossipee would elicit higher interest than when it concerns a male celebrity gossipee. My results confirm the first, but not the second prediction. Respondents show significantly more interest in the emotional infidelity of a male than a female celebrity gossipee. But, in contradiction to my prediction, my respondents showed also greater interest in the sexual infidelity of a male rather than a female celebrity gossipee.

In a last series of predictions, I expected no sex difference from the receivers’ side between interest in the emotional infidelity of a male celebrity gossipee and in the sexual infidelity of a female celebrity gossipee. Both male and female receivers can learn from the strategy information (Learning Hypothesis) and can learn about the reputation of specific parasocial members (Parasocial Hypothesis). However, I did find significant sex differences, with female respondents being the most interested respondents.

6 Discussion

Most of the predictions of this study cannot be confirmed. Possible reasons for this might be that not only the sex of the gossipees of Mating Gossip about celebrities is a crucial predictor of interest, but that a variety of other factors play an important role. Looking at the mean interests in gossip about the physical attractiveness, for example, I notice that interests for “Jennifer Aniston” and “George Clooney” are higher than for “Benicio Del Torro” and “Virgninie Ledoyen”. The first two are better known than the latter, which might explain the difference in interest. If this prestige factor is highly influential, this can explain why the interest in the story about the sexual infidelity of male celebrity “Eric Benet” is higher than for female celebrity “Ryan Haddon”. I therefore suggest future researchers to better control the variety of independent variables that all influence the interest in celebrity gossip. It might be that my results are disturbed because not enough control was secured for influencing factors such as prestige of the celebrity gossipee.