Healing Power of Gossip

I'm TELLING everyone'' a friend of mine used to say when she had a particularly juicy piece of gossip to share. ''But remember, you didn't hear it from me.''

Most of us don't want to miss out on hearing the latest. But we also don't like to think of ourselves as gossips. Well, here's some tittle-tattle to put our minds at rest. Psychologists say gossip is good for us.

''Gossip is a way to keep track of social status and to manage alliances, ''says psychologist Frank McAndrew of Knox College in Illinois. ''It helps us know who we are and how we fit in.

''That sense of belonging is key to emotional health.

Of course, not all stories we share are benign. Experts distinguish between rumour (often unfounded and malicious) and gossip (mostly factual news). But while gossip may be true, it isn't always nice.

When the subject is someone higher than us on the social ladder we're most interested in the nasty stories—negative information could be useful in helping us move up a rung or two. When the gossip concerns someone we perceive as lower in status, good news makes us listen: that's because fortune could raise our rival above us in social rank.

Exchanging tales over the garden fence also helps a community of people establish moral boundaries.

We gossip when people go astray as a way of delineating what's right and wrong. ''We all have to learn the 'unwritten' rules of our society or social group, ''writes social anthropologist Kate Fox of the social Issues Research Center in Oxford.

''Critical gossip helps us to discover negotiate and transmit those rules.''

Gossip may also been compared to social grooming among primates which is known to stimulate the release of endorphins, relieving stress and boosting the immune system.

If that weren't enough, gossip may even be good for the soul. ''A saintly virtue, ''Canadian philosopher Ronald de Sousa once dubbed it.

Gossip allows us to exchange truths that might otherwise remain hidden, painting a truer picture of what it is to be human.

So what do you think ???

Hmmmmm to gossip or not to gossip that is the question …….