"We show that gossip has a strong influence... even when participants have access to the original information as well as gossip about the same information," the researchers wrote in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, according to Reuters.
In evolutionary terms, gossip can be an important tool for people to acquire information about others' reputations or navigate through social networks at work and in their everyday lives, the study said.
That could be a wake-up call (or no surprise) for many crisis PR pros, especially with the blogosphere and other social media often sending rumors and gossip around the world at light speed before the facts are sorted out.
The German study centered on students using a computer game. With the opportunity to reward other players, students tended to reward players described with positive attributes, rather than those who actually played the game well and generously. In some cases, the students acted on the descriptions of other players even when they knew those players’ actions were contrary to the positive descriptions by peers.