Psychological Effects of Rumors and Gossip

Dirt, mudslinging, hearsay and tittle-tattle are words synonymous with gossip. According to Encarta English dictionary, gossip is a conversation about personal or intimate rumors or facts, especially when malicious; informal and chatty conversation or writing about recent and often personal events. In my personal opinion, I think that Gossip undoubtedly destroys friendships, marriages, business, and sometimes causes people to kill themselves and others. That chatty talk about other people's intimate matters is now a favorite pastime around every school and workplace. If asked, most of us would say gossip is a bad habit, yet our culture treats it lightly. Everyday we can access websites, watch television shows, or read tabloids to get the latest news on celebrities and politicians. Some websites even send you an e-mail alert on late-breaking gossip. (Peterson, 159-67)

In our world of reality TV, being aware of intimate details of a person's life is socially acceptable. Some people believe that "dishing," "getting the goods," or hearing "the dirt" on someone is a natural part of the human species, as apes and monkeys, humanities closets kin used language to keep up to date on the happenings of friends and family, just as we do. They believe that in order to stay in touch and close, we need to make conversations. Some people believe that the damage that is blamed on gossip more rightly belongs on people who have acted badly and such people will blame gossip for holding them morally accountable for their behavior. (Pendleton, 69-86)

I do not deny that those facts are sometimes true and humans need a way to communicate, but the way we communicate can affect how we view people and how other people perceive us. Good verbal communication is an excellent resource for our daily life and what we say, and how we say it, affects more people than any other actions we take. For example, if a man cheats on his wife, is it "right," to gossip about it or "wrong," to do so? I think it depends on the circumstance and sometimes it would be better for the wife to be informed and sometimes it would not. But how do we know when it is right or wrong to tell and will it benefit, or destroy the person's life we are talking about? That's a really tricky question and I think the only person who can answer this question is the person who we are talking behind his/her back. I think that gossiping about someone who did something "bad" is even "worse" than what the person we are talking about did. Gossip hurts people mentally and sometimes even physically, so we should act now and stop this bad habit before it is too late to do so. Because when you spread a rumor about someone and then find out that it is wrong it, it is really hard to take it back because the wind has already scattered them. (Pendleton, 69-86)

How interesting it is that we, as human ...