Is Gossiping GOOD for You?

Gossiping about people boosts self-esteem?

Gossiping lets us to compare ourselves to others, improving confidence

But gossip should be treated with a 'critical attitude', researchers warn

Women who receive negative gossip experience higher self-protection

Men who receive positive gossip become more fearful in the long term

Pope Francis recently warned gossip 'fills the heart with bitterness and also poisons us'.

But a new study suggests that gossiping may in fact be good for our self-esteem because it allows us to compare ourselves to others.

Dutch researchers have found hearing positive and negative gossip about another individual boosts self-reflection and self-evaluation.