According to an American study cited by "Le Figaro", almost a quarter of the time we spend talking is spent on gossip. A type of speech that, if not malicious, would promote the release of endorphin.

Gossiping would help strengthen social ties. At least this is supported by a study carried out in 2019 by a Californian psychologist, and revealed by Le Figaro on Monday. You should know that the gossip appeared at the same time as the language, and an anthropologist of the British university of Oxford even compares the gossip to the delousing in the monkeys. In addition to strengthening ties between members of the same community, at work, within a family or a group of friends, it promotes the release of endorphin. In other words, bringing back gossip would do good, provided the words were not malicious.

Equal men and women when it comes to spreading rumors

And to illustrate it, the Californian psychologist Megan Robbins recorded conversations between 500 adults. Gossip represents 14% of the time of the exchanges. Three-quarters of these gossip is neutral or positive. Regarding the remaining quarter, the comments are indeed backbiting. Men and women are also perfectly equal when it comes to peddling unfriendly information. We therefore speak of rumors, that is to say words that reveal something scandalous in general.

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How to deal with this kind of situation? A psychologist advises to distance yourself and manage the problem with humor. And watch out for the sprinkler sprinkled! When you have fun swinging, you should not be surprised to be in the center in turn of gossip. Obviously, the rumor that runs on the Internet is, alas, in tune with the times. The danger often comes from the fact that Internet users may tend to consider a rumor as information.