Gossiping May Be Malicious, But Here’s Why It’s Good For Our Health

As much as we don’t like to admit it, most of us probably gossip from time to time. Learning that so-and-so just broke up with so-and-so can be too juicy to keep to ourselves, right? It’s malicious, back-stabbing and reputation-ruining, but that doesn’t stop us. And according to a new study, it might not have to. Researchers are now saying that this so-called “information sharing” can actually be good for our social and psychological health. Here’s why.

Published in this month’s Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, scientists tested “prosocial” gossip, which is essentially warning others about untrustworthy or dishonest people.

For the study, researchers conducted four experiments. First, they observed 51 volunteers playing a game. When one player did not play by the rules and hoarded points, the observers’ heart rates increased, and most seized the opportunity to slip a “gossip note” to warn new players which helped to alleviate their negative feelings and frustration.

The second experiment had 111 participants fill out a questionnaire about their levels of altruism and cooperativeness. When they noticed that one player had cheated, observers reported feelings of frustration, and once again felt better after passing a gossip note to others.

In the third experiment (the most interesting of all), participants were asked to pay money if they wanted to send a gossip note. And a large majority of them agreed and forked over the cash to gossip.

And in the last experiment, 300 participants from around the country were recruited via Craigslist to play several trust games online. When players were told that others could potentially gossip about them, most became more generous in the game. It seems that the threat of being gossiped changed their behavior to be a better person.

C-author of the study, Robb Willer, said:

Gossip gets a bad rap, but we’re finding evidence that it plays a critical role in the maintenance of social order.

Oh yeah, maintaining social order…that’s why we gossip. Of course, it has nothing to do with the fact that sometimes it just feels good to know how messed-up someone else’s life is compared to our own.

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