Indian Express: Hey, have you heard this? Gossiping is good for your health -- it helps lower stress and also controls bad behaviour, scientists claim. Researchers from the University of California in Berkeley said that gossiping, specifically about a person who has behaved badly, can play a critical role in maintaining social order, preventing exploitation and lowering stress. For their study, published in the Journal of Personality and Social 
Psychology, the scientists carried out a series of detailed experiments focused on chatter known as "pro-social" gossip, in which those passing on information are warning others about untrustworthy or dishonest people. In the first experiment, 51 volunteers were hooked up to heart rate monitors as they checked the scores of two people playing a game. After a couple of rounds, they could see that one player was not playing by the rules and hoarding all the points. Observers' heart rates increased as they witnessed the cheating, and most seized the opportunity to slip a note to a new player warning that his or her opponent was unlikely to play fair. The experience of passing on the information reduced their heart rate. "Passing on the gossip note ameliorated their negative feelings and tempered their frustration. Gossiping made them feel better," Robb Willer, a social psychologist and co-author of the study, was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail. In the second experiment, 111 volunteers filled out questionnaires about their level of altruism and cooperativeness. They then observed monitors showing the scores from three rounds of the game, and saw that one player was cheating. Source: Indian Express
