Gossip: Telling Lies, Telling Truth, Telling the Difference

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Gossip can be a way of tearing people down; shaming, scorning, abusing, bullying, ostracizing; it can drive victims into isolation, despair and suicide.  But gossip can also be positive; in organizations, gossip can transmit culture and inform workers about whom to trust and what to expect.  Through gossip we can access personal meaning; in psychotherapy, much conversation is gossip—evaluative talk about others who are not there.  In our family, social and professional lives, gossip provides self-justification as well as acknowledging truths. This CAPP Conversation will consider the destructive and constructive functions of gossip—one of the most human of interpersonal activities—and how to tell the difference.  

Our presenters include:

•Christine Kieffer, PhD, ABPP, child and adult psychoanalyst and psychotherapist, faculty member at the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis and Rush Medical College, and in private practice in Winnetka and the Loop.  Christine will discuss the dynamics of gossip as an instrument of dominance, exclusion and aggression, on both perpetrators and victims.    

•Timothy Hallett, PhD, Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of Undergraduate Study, Department of Sociology, at Indiana University.  Timothy will discuss social science research showing the positive role of gossip in organizations, where it can help preserve organizational culture, and orient new and existing members about whom to trust and what to expect. 

•Jay Einhorn, PhD, LCPC, President of CAPP, Clinical Supervisor at the Family Institute of Northwestern University, and in private practice in Evanston.  Jay will discuss the role of gossip—evaluative talk about others who are not there—in psychotherapy and personal and professional relationships, and will consider how the therapist’s response to client/patient gossip contributes to, and constrains, the therapeutic relationship.    

CAPP Conversations begin with relatively informal presentations by the presenters, expand to discussion among the presenters, and then expand to include discussion with all participants.  Our aim is to facilitate discussion among therapists about human nature and psychotherapy process.  Non-therapists with an interest in the topic are welcome to attend. 

Today’s presentation will provide 2 CEs for licensed psychologists, social workers and LCPCs.  Today’s presentation is free for CAPP members, $25.00 for non-CAPP members ($5.00 for students), and CEs are $15.00 per person.   

Participants will be able to:

• Describe a working definition of gossip
• Apply that definition to gossip in organizations and personal relationships
• Describe positive and negative roles of gossip in organizations and social relationships
• Apply the definition of gossip to psychotherapy
• Describe therapist choices in participating in and responding to gossip in psychotherapy

 

Continuing education:  This program, when attended in its entirety, is available for 2 Continuing Education credits for licensed clinical psychologists, social workers and counselors.  Division 39 is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Division 39 maintains responsibility for this program and its content.  Division 39 is committed to accessibility and non-discrimination in its continuing education activities and will conduct its activities in conformity with the American Psychological Association's Ethical Principles for Psychologists.  If participants have special needs, we will attempt to accommodate them.  Please address questions, concerns and any complaints to Jay Einhorn, Ph.D., 847.212.3259, jay@psychatlarge.com.  There is no commercial support for this program nor are there any relationships between the CE Sponsor, presenting organization, presenter, program content, research, grants, or other funding that could reasonably be construed as conflicts of interest.    CAPP is a local chapter of Div. 39 of APA.  For full details and disclosures regarding CE provision please go our website: http://www.cappchicago.org/about-capp/continuing-education-provider/

References

Kieffer, C.C. (2013) Rumor and Gossip as Forms of Bullying: sticks and stones? Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 33: 90-104.

Hallett, Tim, Brent Harger, and Donna Eder. 2009. “Gossip at Work: Unsanctioned Evaluative Talk in Formal School Meetings.” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography. 38, 5: 584-618.

Hallett, Tim. 2010. “The Myth Incarnate: Recoupling Processes, Turmoil, and Inhabited Institutions in an Urban Elementary School.” American Sociological Review. 75, 1: 52-74.

Eder, Donna, and Lynne Enke, Janet, 1991.  “The Structure of Gossip:  Opportunities and Constraints on Collective Expression among Adolescents.”  American Sociological Review, Vol 56, No. 4, Aug., 1991), pp 494-508.  http://www.jstor.org/stable/2096270?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

American Psychological Association:  “Schoolyard Blues:  Impact of Gossip and Bullying,”http://www.apa.org/research/action/blues.aspx, (includes a list of references)

New York Times:  “Studies Find That Gossip Isn’t Just Loose Talk.” June 15, 2012:http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/16/your-money/studies-find-gossip-isnt-just-loose- talk.html?pagewanted=all

Kieffer, Christine, 2014.  Mutuality, Recognition and the Self:  Psychoanalytic Reflections.  London, Karnac

Kerr, John, 1994.  A Dangerous Method.  New York:  Vintage Books. 

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