New story in Science and Health from Time: The Science Behind Why People Gossip—And When It Can Be a Good Thing The Science Behind Why People Gossip—And When It Can Be a Good Thing

Gossip. All humans partake in some form, despite the age-old adage, “If you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” Whether it’s workplace chatter, the sharing of family news or group texts between friends, it’s inevitable that everyone who talks, well, talks about other people. In fact, a seminal study estimated people spend almost two-thirds of their conversations gossiping.

You may not even realize you’re doing it. Just imagine spending a whole day without sharing any information about anyone else — it would be difficult, if not close to impossible. After all, if you’re not talking about other people, you’re basically left talking about yourself.

So why do people gossip, and is all gossip bad? Here, psychology experts explain the science behind the quintessential human behavior.

What is gossip, really?

People tend to think of gossip as synonymous with malicious rumors, put-downs or the breathless propagation of a tabloid scoop. But researchers often define it more broadly as: “talking about people who aren’t present,” says Megan Robbins, an assistant professor of psychology at The University of California, Riverside. “It’s something that comes very naturally to us,” — an integral part of conversation, information sharing and even community building.

“It’s not necessarily negative,” adds David Ludden, professor of psychology at Georgia Gwinnett College and the author of The Psychology of Language: An Integrated Approach. “It can be positive or neutral.”

In a 2019 study published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, Robbins and her colleague found that, of the 52 minutes a day on average their subjects spent gossiping, three-quarters of that gossip was actually neutral. One subject in Robbins’ study, for example, spoke about someone who was watching a lot of movies to stay current. “It was kind of boring,” Robbins says, “not salacious and negative” at all. In her study, just a small portion of the conversations analyzed — around 15% — was deemed negative gossip (though positive gossip amounted to a smaller portion still, at only 9%).

So while it is true that people can spend a significant amount of time talking about their peers, oftentimes that chatter is benign.

Why do people gossip?

Some argue that gossip is actually integral to being human, and that it helped our ancestors to survive — and thrive. And it’s not just dedicated gossips making that case, it’s researchers and academics, too. Evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar first pioneered this idea, comparing gossip to the grooming primates engage in as a means of bonding. Instead of picking fleas and dirt off one another to bond, Ludden explains, we now talk, which is “where gossip comes in, because chit-chat is mostly talking about other people and conveying social information.”

Gossiping, Dunbar’s work suggests, gives humans the ability to spread valuable information to very large social networks. “We are much more social,” says Ludden, “so it can be very helpful to get information about people [from others] when this network is too big to observe by ourselves.”

Some scholars also view gossip as evidence of cultural learning, offering teachable moments and providing people examples of what’s socially acceptable — and what’s not. For example, if there’s someone who cheats a lot in a community or social circle and people start to talk about that person in a negative way, says Robbins, the collective criticism should warn others of the consequences of cheating. The gossip can also caution people to stay away from the cheater — without having to experience their bad behavior first-hand — and, as word near-inevitably trickles back to source of said gossip, it can “serve to keep people in check, morally speaking,” Robbins adds.

What happens physiologically when people gossip?

While it’s an integral part of collective language, gossip is difficult to study, the American Psychological Association noted in a 2004 issue of the Review of General Psychology dedicated to the topic. In part, they say, this is because gossip is typically a pretty private behavior — despite recent trends in embracing the ‘guilty pleasure’ — and a lot of stigma remains attached to the practice.

But some studies have explored what happens to us physiologically when we gab about others or react to it. In a 2015 study published in Social Neuroscience, scientists looked at brain imaging of men and women as they heard positive and negative gossip about themselves, their best friends and celebrities. People hearing gossip good and bad about themselves, as well as negative gossip in general, showed more activity in the prefrontal cortex of their brains, which is key to our ability to navigate complex social behaviors.

This activity indicated the subjects were pleased by the gossip and its insight, and the authors say this is related to our desire to be seen positively by others and fit in socially, regardless of whether this reflects what we’re actually feeling.

The study also found that the caudate nucleus, a reward center in the brain, was activated in response to negative gossip about celebrities; subjects seemed to be amused or entertained by salacious celebrity scandals. (The researchers also polled how the subjects felt, in addition to studying what their brain images revealed. Not surprisingly, they were happier to hear positive gossip about themselves, and more irked by hearing negative gossip about themselves as opposed to hearing gossip about others.)

There’s also a physiological distinction to be drawn between active and passive participation in gossip. Matthew Feinberg, an assistant professor of organizational behavior at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, and his colleagues explored this in a 2012 study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. When subjects heard about another person’s anti-social behavior or an injustice, their heart rates increased. When they were able to actively gossip about the person, or the situation, on the other hand, it soothed them and brought their heart rates down. The act of gossiping, Feinberg explains, “helps calm the body.”

So, can gossip be good for you?

“People are really resistant to thinking about gossip as anything but a bad behavior,” says Robbins. And Feinberg notes that there are a couple of types of gossip that should be avoided, such as gossip that is purely harmful and serves no greater purpose — like nasty comments about someone’s looks.

In such a scenario, “you’re not learning anything,” Robbins adds. “No one is benefiting.” (Likewise, disseminating or not correcting gossip that you know to be untrue is another no-no.)

Along with the cultural learning benefits humans have gained over time, research like Feinberg’s shows there are several ways gossip can actually be beneficial. Gossip can promote cooperation, says Feinberg, by spreading important information. “When people say ‘your reputation precedes you,’ it’s because they have heard gossip about that person,” he says, which “can be extremely useful.”

In another of Feinberg’s studies, a group identified members who behaved selfishly via gossip, and promptly kicked them out. The remaining members were then able to work more harmoniously together on a series of exercises, while the shunned individuals actually came around, trying to redeem themselves. (One caveat to consider, though: a ‘redemption arc’ spurred by gossip is one perhaps most likely to occur in communities with an equitable distribution of power.)

Gossiping also says something about the relationships people have with each other. “In order to gossip, you need to feel close to people,” says Stacy Torres, assistant professor of sociology at the University of California, San Francisco, who has studied gossip in older adults. “There’s an intimacy” to sharing experiences and feeling like you’re on the same page about others, she points out. Torres’ research has found that gossip can stave off loneliness, while other studies have found it can facilitate bonding and closeness and serve as a form of entertainment.

So, keep on talking. And when your conversation turns to gossip, as it inevitably will, remember that some good can come of it — with the right intentions, of course.