Like to gossip? It could be good for you, new Stanford study says

What’s the tea? Well, according to the latest research, gossiping may not be all that bad.

A recent study by Stanford University and University of Maryland researchers found that gossip may actually have positive effects.

According to Stanford University psychology professor Michele Gelfand, one of the authors of the new paper, gossip can be “really helpful in terms of disseminating information about people’s reputations.”

“Once you receive that information, it can help people calibrate who to connect with, who to work with,” Gelfand, who also teaches at the business school, said. “If you hear that someone’s really selfish, you’re going to try to avoid them. If you hear someone’s really cooperative, you’re going to try to connect with them.”

There is a catch though. For gossip to be productive, it has to be accurate.

The study, which used computer simulations that mimic human behavior, found that it can help people foster bonds and promote cooperation within social circles. It can validate emotions, giving people a sense of value when sharing information.

It can also deter people from behaving badly or acting selfishly.

“That actually means that gossip is promoting cooperation because people don’t want to be the subject of future gossip,” Gelfand said. “Because they want to protect their reputation. They want to avoid being subject to another rumor reel. So once they realize that they’re talking to a gossiper … they’ll wind up on their best behavior.”

The study challenges the negative connotation associated with gossip. Among the primary motivations of gossiping is often a desire to make sense of one’s environment, and to gain a better understanding of different personalities and the dynamics of various social settings.

And the history of gossip runs deep.

“From Mesopotamian cities to industrialized nations, gossip has been at the center of bonding human groups. Yet the evolution of gossip remains a puzzle,” the introduction of the study says.

According to several recent studies, on average, people spend about an hour a day talking about other people.

But in more recent times, gossip is no longer limited to the town square, churches, offices or schools. Much of the gossip, or as younger generations like to call it, “tea,” has moved online. Blind items about celebrities, politicians or everyday people go viral on Instagram and TikTok almost daily.

In Silicon Valley, some of the best tech industry “tea” can be found on an anonymous chat app called Blind.

Founded in 2013, with its popularity exploding all over the world during the COVID-19 pandemic, the app does more than just serve as a platform for industry or workplace gossip. Many anonymous users, about 10 million as of today, according to company figures, use the platform to talk about salary negotiations, labor practices and other issues.

However, the company does not shy away from its reputation as a place that gives employees all over the world a digital space to gossip.

“I believe gossip is admittedly part of what people go to Blind to do because there needs to be that space to sometimes share events or share your interpersonal relationships with your manager or a work situation,” Rick Chen, a spokesperson for the company told this news organization.

The app requires users to register using a work email account. But Chen says the company does not track personal data or link usernames to the emails. This allows — to the bane of some tech executives — conversations to take place in almost complete anonymity.

“And when you have anonymous discussions, generally, we believe that they’re productive and insightful,” Chen said. “But those points of gossip can often be probes to find something deeper.”

Chen recalled a private channel of a company where allegations of workplace sexual harassment were made. What started as what can be considered gossip morphed into real action.

“It led to the HR internal teams actually coming into that post, identifying themselves and asking these people who had shared their experiences to come to them so that they could start an investigation,” Chen said.

Gossip is more the rule than the exception among younger folks. But in the age of online rumor-mongering, many have adopted a nuanced view.

Mackenzie Jardin, a 24-year-old De Anza College student, said she sees how it can be both productive and detrimental to young people growing up in the online age.

Jardin said gossip can result in useful information for young people in deciding who to hang out with or date.

“I think it can be used as a safety tool,” Jardin said. “People can be like, ‘Hey I’ve heard some things about this person — they’re not very kind — or they have some allegations against them, or they have stolen money from one of their other friends.’”