Most gossip would not be so negative and would even strengthen the bond with friends or family.
Talking about other people’s lives, taking an interest in what celebrities are doing or your neighbor’s extra-marital relationship is a parallel way of circulating information and very often of interpreting or distorting it. These gossip, gossip or gossip are not so trivial and actually allow you to recognize yourself in a social group.
What do we tell each other when we gossip?
Gossip also interests scientists. In a 2019 study, 500 adult conversations were recorded and analyzed to find around 4,000 gossip, or 14% of conversation time. Only 25% of the gossip was more negative than positive, with the rest mostly neutral. In this study, gossip was equally important among men and women.
In most cases gossip about entourage or celebrities is not so negative and malicious, it even promotes the cohesion of a group of friends or family.
What to do if you are the victim of gossip?
Talking about the lives of others is therefore a natural social phenomenon that brings cohesion. However, when a gossip is false and one is the victim of a negative rumour, one must ask oneself the question of a strategy on the part of a person or a group to erase or dismiss the victim in question.
If you are a victim, you can already go find the people concerned to inform them of your truth. Reacting with humor by exaggerating the gossip or making fun of it can sometimes solve the problem quickly. If not, also think about the motivations of this person for spreading this false information about you. Finally, you can also use social network regulation tools if you are a victim on the internet.
Find out more: “Rumors – The oldest media in the world” by Jean-Noël Kapferer, Seuil editions.
Source: Bonnington O, Wamoyi J, Ddaaki W, et al. Changing forms of HIV-related stigma along the HIV care and treatment continuum in sub-Saharan Africa: a temporal analysis. Sex Transm Infect. 2017;93(Suppl 3):e052975. doi:10.1136/sextrans-2016-052975
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