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Gossip is described as a triangular sociopsychological 'relationship' which is meant to foster intimacy and discharge hostility. It operates through the evocation of curiosity and fantasy, and its genetic and instinctual sources are said to be Oedipal aggression and sibling rivalry. Additionally, by way of identification it
is used to master anxiety; it may have a genuine communicative function; it may either foster or impede group formation and socialization in, for example, adolescence.