Gossip

The film casting agency called the Wednesday and gave me the reporting time for work this week on that movie I worked on a couple of weeks ago, Welcome to Academia. It is a 6 am reporting time....so I will leave here at 5:30 am each day this week (I am scheduled for work Monday Oct. 22nd through Friday Oct.26th.). Since I awaken as a early a 4 am it is not a problem and at least I will beat the traffic going to the set.
Which is more powerful, gossip or the truth? Surprise! According to a study just done at the Mx Planc Institute in Germany, gossip is more powerful than truth, suggesting people believe what they hear through the grapevine even if they have evidence to the contrary. Hmmmmmmmm I don't need your comments about whether my E mail is more gossip than truth. Forget that or I will gossip...errr....comment even more.
To prove the idea that gossip rules humans the Planc researchers tested students using a computer game and found gossip played an important role when people make decisions. It showed that gossip has a stronger influence over behavior ,even when participants have access to the original information as well as gossip about the same information. Basically, the power of gossip was greatest when used for manipulative purposes. Since we all manipulate others either overtly or subliminally we all gossip top some degree or another. In the study, the researchers gave the students money and allowed them to give it to others in a series of rounds. The students also wrote notes about how others played the game that everyone could review. Students tended to give less money to people described as "nasty misers" or "scrooges" and more to those depicted as "generous players" or "social players."
The researchers then took the game a step further and showed the students the actual decisions people had made. But they also supplied false gossip that contradicted that evidence. In these cases, the students based their decisions to award money on the gossip, rather than the hard evidence, which showed why gossip rules. The students listened and believed the gossip even when they knew the contrary was true.
So I wonder if that means gossiping may be good, or at least not as bad as we claim it to be. Gossip can be an important tool for people to acquire information about others' reputations or navigate through social networks at work and in their everyday lives. And unfortunately it can reinforce our misconceptions or prejudices.
Gossip can be good or bad, true or false. It also can help us. For example, if a person learns through gossip that a man or women seen as a future husband or wife had cheated on others it could be the information used to eliminate a possible cheating spouse. Sometimes the rumors started by gossip are true and have positive benefits for a person or the whole community. Hmmmmmmmmm I wonder if I should ask you how much you gossip. What do you gossip about most? What are some forms of good gossip? Do women really gossip more than men (I am just asking, not stating my belief in that! Spare my life)? Have a nice day, and please keep your gossip to a minimum.