Gossip is not all bad, experts say – it can be useful and helps people build trust

Neuroscientists in the US studied gossip and found it was a way for people to help each other and share personal experiences

The research developed out of a shared curiosity by scientists about why people spend so much time each day exchanging information about themselves and others

Reading Time:3 minutes

A study in the US has revealed gossip is a good thing, not a bad one, and a “way for us to build trust and resolve uncertainty or ambiguity”. Photo: Getty Images

Published: 8:15pm, 30 May 2021Updated: 8:18pm, 30 May 2021

Gossip is viewed by many as baseless trash talk – but it plays a role in creating social connection and building trust, researchers say. Rather than being a social taboo, gossip enables learning about the world indirectly through other people’s experiences.

Neuroscientists at Dartmouth College, in the US state of New Hampshire, studied gossip and found it was a way for people to help each other and to share personal experiences.

“Gossip is a complex form of communication that is often misunderstood,” said Eshin Jolly, a postdoctoral researcher in the Computational Social Affective Neuroscience Laboratory who co-authored the study with lab director Luke Chang, an assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences.

“It can be a means of social and substantive connection beyond its typical negative connotation,” said Jolly.

Eshin Jolly is a postdoctoral researcher in the Computational Social Affective Neuroscience Laboratory at Dartmouth College who co-authored the study.

A private chat during a Zoom meeting online can be categorised as gossip, and it is not necessarily the act of spreading rumours or saying bad things about other people, the researchers noted.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x