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We all like to chat about the latest rumor or scandal from time to time.
But ladies, be careful, as women who gossip about others are driven by jealousy and low self-esteem, a study suggests.
The researchers recruited 190 women between the ages of 23 and 35, who were asked to rate their own physical attractiveness and self-esteem on a scale.
They were then randomly assigned to look at photographs of women categorized as high or low attractiveness.
Participants were asked to imagine themselves in a social group with a “target” man and to imagine the woman they had seen entering the group and approaching the man.
We all like to chat about the latest rumor or scandal from time to time. But ladies, be careful, as women who gossip about others are driven by jealousy and low self-esteem, study suggests (file image)
They rated their jealousy on a scale, after which they were presented with negative information about the woman and asked to rate the likelihood of sharing this information in various social contexts.
The analysis revealed that participants were more likely to spread negative information about the woman to their own friends than to anyone else.
They were also more likely to report feeling higher levels of romantic jealousy if the woman was attractive, which in turn was related to greater odds of gossiping about her.
The researchers found that participants with low self-esteem were slightly more likely to gossip, particularly when competitors were very attractive.
The team, from Beijing Normal University, published their findings in the journal Evolutionary Psychological Science.
The analysis revealed that participants were more likely to spread negative information about the woman to their own friends than to anyone else (file image)
“This research investigated whether and how young women used gossip strategies to gain opportunities when faced with physically attractive potential romantic competitors,” they wrote.
“Our results suggest that when faced with physically attractive potential competitors, young women experienced higher levels of romantic jealousy and were therefore more likely to transmit negative information that could damage the potential competitors’ sexual reputation to their friends.” .
“In addition, women with low self-esteem were more likely to experience higher levels of romantic jealousy and more likely to pass on negative information to their friends.”