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No one likes it when rumors are spread about him, but let’s be honest: as a rule, we ourselves are not averse to listening to a couple of gossip about acquaintances. And now, Dutch psychologists have provided bone-miners with an excellent excuse: they think gossip is good.
The work of Elena Martinescu and her colleagues at the University of Groningen* consisted of two parts. In the first, 178 students were asked to recall a real life episode when they had to listen to good or bad rumors about others. Then they were asked to remember how the gossip they heard influenced their desire for self-improvement, for “self-promotion”, that is, strengthening and raising their status, and for self-defense.
It turned out that “good” gossip feeds the desire to improve, while “bad” encourages you to show yourself once again and increase the desire for self-defense.
By learning about the good things in the lives of others, we gain information about possible ways to improve ourselves, explains Martinescu. We are flattered by bad gossip about others, because against the background of those who did not succeed or who did not behave in the best way, we look much more attractive. At the same time, bad gossip is a threat signal, a reminder of how easy it is to become a victim of ill-wishers.
“Contrary to popular belief, the purpose of negative rumors is not so much to harm the person involved, but to please the gossiper and his listener,” the researchers say in an article published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. “Gossip is a convenient way to compare ourselves to significant people around us, and this is an important source of our self-esteem,” they believe.
Read more:
- I like to gossip
The second part of the study was a role play. It was attended by 122 students who were asked to imagine that they work as sales representatives in a large company. As part of the game, they listened to a story from one of their “colleagues” that a certain third person either failed during professional certification or, on the contrary, shone, and then again filled out questionnaires about self-improvement, “self-advancement” and self-defense. The results of the survey coincided with the results of the first part of the experiment: “good” gossip encourages development, “bad” gossip simultaneously flatters and sharpens vigilance.
This reaction is typical for both men and women, but the degree to which representatives of different sexes express certain feelings differ. “Bad” gossip causes more anxiety in women about the degree of their own security, while men who hear “good” rumors about others, the desire to improve is accompanied by fear.
However, this study did not address the most painful type of rumors – about people’s sexual relationships, adultery. It’s possible that discussing people’s private lives behind their backs isn’t all that helpful.
Read more:
- I can’t keep secrets
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