Why gossiping can impact you

In the book 59 Seconds by Richard Wiseman he talks about an effect called “Spontaneous Trait Transference”.

John Skowronski from Ohio University and his colleagues investigated the downside of spreading malicious gossip by getting participants to watch videos of an actor talking about a third party. The participants attributed the negative traits to the actor even though they were talking about someone else.

When you gossip about another person, listeners unconsciously associate you with the characteristics you are describing, ultimately leading to those characteristics being ‘transferred’ to you. So, say positive and pleasant things about friends and colleagues and you are seen as a nice person. In contrast, constantly bitch about their failings and people will unconsciously apply the negative traits and incompetence to you.

So, next time you consider gossiping or talking bad of someone think about whether it might get associated with you instead.

Links

59 Seconds

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Random Posts

Photos on a map

It is possible to see a (heat)map of all the photos you have taken in Google Photos.


Read More

Extending a wifi network with a TP-Link RE650

I had a very unusual setup for the network for my office. The office is situated a floor above and at the opposite end of the house to where the main router is located. A fully wired connection is not an option at the moment due to concrete floors and limited access to roof voids.


Read More

Information - Organisation - Application

“Put everything you know out for free but in a random order”.


Read More