Psychology of Gossiping in the Workplace - Dr Rachael Molitor - BBC Radio Scotland - 11th July 2024

we often do it without thinking but a new study from the University of Leeds business school suggested having a gossip at work can actually harm your career by making you seem untrustworthy and less competent how true is this and can we fight that human instinct to have a bit of Gossip let's start this this morning with chartered psychologist Dr Rachel molor who's on the line for us this morning Rachel good morning good morning thank you for having me pleasure why do we gossip and so we gossip it's a real social construct that it's it's kind of rooted in our desire as humans to look for validation with people we're always looking to have this communication we want social bonding and by gossiping hopefully in a positive way we'll get onto the negative in a second but even gossiping in a positive way creates those sort of social bonds with a sense of caderie and getting that sort of knowledge between the groups so people kind of get together in the know and kind of creates kind of a social norm and a a communication style between people so it's a kind of natural human instinct to try and bond us together absolutely we we always as social beings always looking for people who have similar sort of interests to us or similar thought patterns to us so in that sense by gossiping you can notice and recognize someone's reaction to said gossip and you will see where they are similar to you it's it's a way that we kind of create our own social group whether it be a small or wider wider reaching in a negative pejorative sense Rachel it's often uh labeled uh when women share information rather than men why is that yes it is and it's really interesting when when you look at the sort of the gender split between between gossip because it's normally seen that women normally gossip about sort of um emotional sort of context they very much gossip in the sense of um um information about people or dynamic social dynamics or appearances whereas men are actually still still gossiping they're still there but it's more about potential like achievements or careers they're very much more task driven whereas women seem to gossip about someone's potential um personality or their relationship or something they may have heard so even though both of us seem to gossip actually it's the communication style that that comes out of it and again through a positive or negative aspect but it is associated um because of the communication and social skills with a more sort of feminine trait than it is a masculine trait in in the world that we we see it the the negative side of it Rachel This research from University of Leeds business school suggesting that people who are seen as being gossipy are maybe less trusted in the workplace or less competent can you see why that might be oh yes absolutely it's it's really interesting when you look at that gossip from that negative concept and it does create an erosion of trust so if someone was to give you something and they were to to hold a piece of information or say not to tell someone by actually then sharing that with someone it breaks down that that trust it may especially within the workplace as the the research was showing decreases in that element of morale in the workplace that work environment can be saturated by the gossip which could potentially be toxic and we know of those Chinese Whispers that we talk about and all of a sudden gossip can really get out of hand and potentially damage reput reputations even if it actually isn't quite the truth by the time it's reached maybe the 10th person so it really shifts that understanding what's actually going on in the workplace leading to people gossiping about people instead of about the situation at hand got you um Rachel stay right there he's Josie Smith broadcaster and for the purposes of this item gossip morning JY don't know what you're talking about anything you want to share with us this morning um don't know if there's anything I can share this publicly but happy to talk in general terms why is Gossip important I think it's important because it builds relationships and I can't think of anything more enjoyable than having a laugh with my pals and inevitably a gossip to be honest what are your hard lines when it comes to gossiping anything off limits okay no but I think you need to gossip carefully with chosen parties maybe this is where it comes into being Choy about who you talk about who to in order to avoid accusations hurt I mean gossip can be um inflammatory it can be damaging we all know I guess of a situation where somebody's been talked about and it's been untrue for example you think about media spins on stories Etc but I think for me I worked for a lot of different clients and what interests me from a sort of perspective of human behavior is that the sort of corporate hierarchy and how people people are in different work spaces and places and how the groups are arranged so if I'm going into different clients I need to be careful what I say to whom has gossip ever come back to bite you H oh definitely but I've probably just forgotten about it thankfully and moved on so This research that suggests it's a negative in the workplace you don't think that you think it's part of the kind of bonding process in the workplace choosy yeah I think so but I think like I said you have to be choosy about who you're talking to because for example you don't want to accidentally or purposely throw somebody under a bus that's a colleague when you're maybe talking to Superior about a job or somebody's performance or how something went when somebody wasn't there to to view it for themselves but I think overall communication in the workplace or with your pals is good it's healthy it's inevitable of course you're going to talk to people at work so I I don't really see many negatives in Gossip because per se gossip isn't actually something that's that negative I would describe negative gossip and probably more more of a sweety sound that maybe couldn't say yeah I get you I get you Rachel what are the rules around it and especially when it comes to trust those people you trust with your gossip oh yes it's very important the the people you're trusting are someone who you want to be able to tell them potentially a secret and to know they're not going to go and share it and I've absolutely heard it and exactly the same as you were just saying I've heard it in the workplace where people may say oh I I know such and such or I've heard such and such a dating or or whatnot and actually they won't give all the information to you sometimes you want to go well I want to know everything then now you've told me this but actually it and through the sort of psychology of it it maintains as we were just saying that social order so having someone who has that that bit of knowledge and we know that knowledge is power in that sense so having that little bit of knowledge kind of creates you above the parit of other people but it is as we were saying and I totally agree there are two sides is the positive and the negative side of it but actually being able to use this gossip in the workplace as long as you know you're not going to be using it maliciously I think that's so important to note that if you take someone's secret and and you say I won't tell a soul then actually that is so trustworthy you have to keep it to yourself where if it is something that someone's just told you but not said or keep it you know take it to your grave type thing then you can mention it you can discuss it in conversation it may have been even the fact that they want to be able to share it with people but haven't got the the confidence to do so or don't feel like it's it's worth talking about and actually going through that that natural and very healthy level of forming alliances and increasing that social status within the workplace I'd love to tell you all about producer Caitlyn and her feet unfortunately without a Time Josie Smith Rachel mol thank you very much