Almost everyone gossips. And a new study finds that people spend about 52 minutes per day, on average, talking to someone about others who are not present
But here’s the surprise: Despite the assumption that most gossip is trash talk, the study finds the majority of gossip is nonjudgmental chat.
“People love to talk about others,” says Jeremy Cone, a psychologist at Williams College. “Think about your own conversations with a family member or friend: You talk about everyday things that keep you connected. You share your daughter got her driver’s license or your uncle has a kidney stone. Much of it is just documenting facts.”
Of course, the study also finds that some gossip is negative or mean-spirited. About 15% of the gossip included some type of negative judgement.
But even negative gossip can serve a purpose, as more research has found.
“I think gossiping can be a smart thing to do,” says Elena Martinescu who has studied gossip in the workplace. “It allows people to keep track of what’s going on and form social connection with other people.”
Research has shown that gossip can help build group cohesion (凝聚力) and cooperation. “When you gossip, you can keep track of who is contributing to the group and who's being selfish,” Martinescu explains. “And by sharing this information, you can exclude those group members who are social loafers (游手好闲的人).”
“We also found negative gossip makes people likely to repair the aspects of their behavior that they were criticized for,” Martinescu says.
So, say, for instance, you were criticized for always arriving at work late. Hearing that gossip about yourself may motivate you to want to be on time.
Of course, this isn’t a license to be loose lips or to repeat baseless claims that can damage someone’s reputation unfairly. But confiding (吐露个人隐私) in your friends and colleagues and sharing impressions about another person — even when they’re negative — may be helpful.
【小题1】Why do people often gossip according to Jeremy Cone?| A．Because gossip can satisfy their curiosity. | B．Because they can share social information. |
| C．Because they want to correct others’ mistakes. | D．Because spreading negative facts is unavoidable. |
| A．People can be improved in an all-round way. | B．People can get rid of immoral behavior rapidly. |
| C．People can be kept informed of others' privacy. | D．People can change their behavior for the better.. |
| A．It is plain to see that people gossip all the time. |
| B．Based on the study, the majority of gossip is trash talk. |
| C．It’s advisable that we turn a deaf ear to negative gossip. |
| D．It’s likely that gossip helps us know more about one's quality. |
| A．Gossip is the last thing people could do. | B．Gossip should be advocated by the society. |
| C．Gossip may not be as harmful as it sounds. | D．Gossip is the best way to build social bonds. |
