Gossip
Definition
Idle talk; informal talk or writing especially about persons
Person indulging in gossip
Gossip as a form of communication is often unverified and inaccurate. Gordon Allport and Joseph Portman in a study (1947) found that information lost 70 % of details within 5-7 mouth transmissions.
Very often people gossip just because it fills gaps in conversations, they are bored or because it's a type of 'social currency'. However, gossip is recognised as a subversive form of power and passive aggression. In life it has the ability to destroy relationships, harm self-esteem and damage reputations.
If you do not want to gossip there are actions you can take. If someone is about to tell you something gossip based, (you can usually tell because it is something they would not say if the other person was present), you can;
- Walk away
- Change the subject
- Say 'I am not comfortable hearing this'
- Say 'I don’t like talking about other people'
Not gossiping can be very difficult in some environments but it is limiting behaviour because there is always the fear of being exposed and that can be socially messy and remember people do not really trust people who gossip.
Communicating with others in a constructive, respectful way shows true empowerment and projects out to the world self respect.