Gossip is healthy because it helps calm you down and is important in maintaining social order, a new study claims.

　　一項新研究稱，散播流言有益健康，因為散播流言能讓人平靜下來，對於維持社會秩序也很重要。

　　Idle chatter in the workplace or over a coffee is often viewed as a damaging habit which spreads salacious rumours and harms people's reputations.

　　在工作場所閒聊或邊喝咖啡邊聊天常被視為有害的習慣，因為它會傳播下流的謠言，損害人們的名譽。

　　But new research suggests gossip could actually lower stress and help people overcome the frustration of seeing someone doing something wrong and getting away with it.

　　然而新研究顯示，散播流言其實能減輕壓力，幫助人們克服看到有人做錯事卻沒受懲罰的挫敗感。

　　Psychologists from the University of California, Berkeley, found that volunteers' heart rates rose when they observed someone misbehaving, but that this stopped when they were allowed to discuss what they had seen with others.

　　來自加利福尼亞大學伯克利分校的心理學家發現，當參加研究的志願者看到某些人行為不端時心跳會加速，但當他們可以和別人談論自己所看到的事情時心跳又會恢復正常。

　　The study, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, focused on "prosocial" gossip which helps spread information about dishonest people rather than voyeuristic chatter about celebrities' love lives, the researchers said.

　　該研究發表在《個性與社會心理學雜誌》上。研究者稱，這一研究關注的是幫助散播有關不正直的人的資訊的“親社會”流言，而非談論名人感情生活的窺淫狂式的流言。

　　In a trial designed to determine how strong our urge is to spread gossip, some participants even said they would spend money in order to send a note warning others about people they had seen cheating in a trust exercise.

　　為了明確了解我們散播流言的慾望有多強烈，研究人員開展了一個試驗，試驗中有些參與者甚至表示，會花錢寄信警告別人要提防那個自己發現在信任練習中作弊的人。

　　Prof Robb Willer, one of the researchers, said: "Spreading information about the person whom they had seen behave badly tended to make people feel better, quieting the frustration that drove their gossip."

　　其中一位研究人員羅伯 維勒教授說：“散播有關行為不端的人的資訊會讓人們感覺好一些，撫平那種促使他們去散播流言的挫敗感。”

　　The study also showed that passing on rumours could help us monitor people who behave badly and prevent each other from being exploited by malicious individuals, Prof Willer added.

　　維勒教授補充說，研究還顯示，散播流言能幫助人們監督那些行為不端的人，並防止大家受到惡人的利用。

　　In an online trust game where players could lower their chances of winning by warning others about cheaters, the threat of being the subject of bad gossip encouraged people to play more fairly.

　　在一個網上信任遊戲中，如果玩家向他人告發作弊者，作弊者獲勝的機會就會降低，害怕成為不利流言的主角的威脅鼓勵人們更公平地玩遊戲。

　　Prof Willer said: "Gossip gets a bad rap, but we're finding evidence that it plays a critical role in the maintenance of social order."

　　維勒教授說：“儘管人們對流言怨聲很多，但我們找到了證據證明它在維持社會秩序方面也發揮著重要的作用。”（來源：滬江英語）