Article

Aggression as a Motive for Gossip During Conflict: The Role of Power, Social Value Orientation, and Counterpart's Behavior

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Abstract

Not much is known about the motives behind the use of gossip in conflict situations. We report a laboratory experiment that examined the influence of social value orientation, counterpart's behavior, and power on the motive to use gossip for indirect aggression in a conflict situation. Results showed that when participants had high power, their social value orientation determined whether they were motivated to gossip to indirectly aggress toward their counterpart: Proself participants showed a higher motivation to do so than prosocial participants. In contrast, when participants had low power, the motive to engage in indirect aggression through gossip was influenced by the counterpart's behavior: Participants who encountered a competitive counterpart showed a higher motivation to aggress through gossip than participants who encountered a cooperative counterpart.

Keywords: gossip, power, interpersonal conflict, experimental research, negotiation

How to Cite:

Jeuken, E., Beersma, B., ten Velden, F. & Dijkstra, M., (2015) “Aggression as a Motive for Gossip During Conflict: The Role of Power, Social Value Orientation, and Counterpart's Behavior”, Negotiation and Conflict Management Research 8(3), 137-152. doi: https://doi.org/10.34891/v64v-ww12