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SALT LAKE CITY -- It turns out mom may not have been right when she said, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all."
A recent study from the University of California, Berkeley, found that gossiping could in some instances have positive consequences, such as lowering stress, preventing exploitation and policing bad behavior.
The key is the type of gossip, the study found. Pro-social gossip — the kind that intends to warn others about untrustworthy or dishonest behavior — helps prevent others from being taken advantage of and can be therapeutic.
The study used four experiments to measure the effects of pro-social gossip. The researchers used games that measured the players' generosity toward each other based on how many points or dollars they shared.
One study involved 53 participants who were hooked up to heart-rate monitors and asked to observe the scores of two people who were playing the game. Eventually, the observers found that one of the players was not playing by the rules.
We shouldn't feel guilty for gossiping if the gossip helps prevent others from being taken advantage of.
–Matthew Feinberg
As they witnessed the dishonesty, the participants' heart rates increased. Many chose to use a "gossip note" to warn new players of a dishonest player, which lowered the raised heart rates.
"Passing on the gossip note ameliorated their negative feelings and tempered their frustration," said Rob Willer, a coauthor of the study. "Gossiping made them feel better."
Researchers said the findings indicate people should not feel bad about gossiping if they are simply revealing the vices of others or saving people from exploitation.
"We shouldn't feel guilty for gossiping if the gossip helps prevent others from being taken advantage of," said Matthew Feinberg, the lead author of the paper.
In subsequent experiments, participants rated their own levels of altruism and cooperativeness. Those engaging in pro-social gossiping behavior reported feeling frustrated at the cheating and relieved at the opportunity to use gossip to prevent the exploitation of the next player.
"A central reason for engaging in gossip was to help others out — more so than just to talk trash about the selfish individual," Feinberg said. "Also, the higher participants scored on being altruistic, the more likely they were to experience negative emotions after witnessing the selfish behavior and the more likely they were to engage in the gossip."
The third experiment introduced financial stakes: participants were asked to give the pay they would receive for taking part in the study in return for a chance to send a gossip note. The majority of participants were willing to take the pay cut, according to Feinberg.
#poll
Three-hundred participants were recruited nationwide via Craigslist for the fourth experiment, which took place online. This time, some players were aware of the existence of the gossip notes. Players acted more generously when under the threat of being the subject of negative gossip, according to researchers.
Taken together, the results of the study show that "when we observe someone behave in an immoral way, we get frustrated," according to Willer. "But being able to communicate this information to others who could be helped makes us feel better."
Gossip has been a popular focus of psychological research in recent years, as researchers have tried to explain why gossiping seems to be so satisfying. One reason may be that gossip serves to bond group members together, a psychological remain from a time when humans lived in small bands and for survival purposes had to be wary of strangers.
Now, it serves a similar survival function, at least psychologically.
