Gossiping is a good thing? That’s what these psychologists are saying today. My parents always told me to never gossip or talk about anyone behind their back. Doing that is just a waste of time and energy when you can just say it to their face. Psychologists are saying something way different than what my parents taught me.
Also, a professor named Professor Willer did a study showing how just the threat of gossip could encourage people to be nicer. About 300 participants played an economic trust game online using raffle tickets that will be entered for a $50 drawing. They knew that they were going to be talked about if they didn’t play fairly. This made all of the participants to become more generous.
Another study that happened was Bianca Beersma, an associate of work psychology, and Gerban van Kleef, a professor of social psychology, told a group of people that they were randomly picked to distribute 100 lottery tickets with a cash prize. They had a choice to be generous and give away the tickets or keep it all to themselves. Half the time, the participant was told the choice would be kept private and no one would know. The rest of the time, the decision would be publicized in the group. At the private time, these people were being more selfish and kept most of the lottery tickets, but when it became publicized , they became less selfish. They knew that people would gossip about them, so they started doing more of the right thing.
According to this website http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sideways-view/201311/gossip-is-good-you, it says that sharing gossip builds and secures bonds and it can be influential to others. Gossip is also the way corporate cultures are established and maintained. It sometimes is a social norm in certain cultures and it can let off team, anger, or stress. So is gossip good for you? A little bit, depending on what angle you’re looking at it.
