The Dirty Little Secret of Female Friendship — What Science Actually Says | #9 Dr. Tania Reynolds

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If a friend is gossiping to you, she's probably gossiping about you too. That's the unsettling rule of thumb Dr. Tania Reynolds lives by—and in this episode, she explains why. In this episode of The XX Lab, Dr. Sarah Hill sits down with Reynolds, a social psychologist and leading researcher on female friendship, cooperation, and competition, to unpack the evolutionary science behind how women build relationships—and why those relationships carry such high stakes. Bless Her Heart Dr. Reynolds explains the "bless her heart effect," the sneaky way concern-framed gossip lets women damage a rival's reputation while looking kind doing it, and why this strategy works especially well on other…