Think Bait

In the primate world, friendships are maintained through the practice of picking fleas and dirt from the fur of other members in the group. Known as social grooming, it's quite literally a "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" kind of relationship. Although grooming does serve a hygienic purpose, cleaning the fur and skin of insects and debris, it also solidifies friendships.   Humans also engage in social grooming—doing each other's hair, primping each other's clothes. But according to Dunbar, we've found an easier, more effective way of building and maintaining relationships—idle chit-chat. In other words, for us, gossip serves the same purpose of social network building as does mutual grooming for chimpanzees.