Gossip in the name of Love?

One guy bad mouthing his buddy (behind his back, of course) is a story that’s as old as mankind. Gossip! King Solomon was certainly no fan. In fact, good old Sol wrote, in the Book of Proverbs (20:19), “He who goes about as a talebearer reveals secrets; therefore do not associate with one who flatters with his lips.” If I were to share some fascinating oxytocin research with the fabled king, though, he may have changed his point of view.

First thing Sol would ask, “What in the world is oxytocin?”

Oxytocin is a hormone produced by the pituitary (a gland in the brain). Oxytocin is released during childbirth and breastfeeding, and facilitates mother-baby bonding. Oxytocin is also released during sex and snuggling. It’s been called the cuddle hormone or love hormone and increases warm feelings. It has long been known that increased levels of oxytocin are associated with health benefits. As early as 1998, researchers in Sweden lauded oxytocin’s salutary effects: lowering of blood pressure, improving blood sugar levels and speeding up healing.

In 2018, German scientists performed an exhaustive review of more than twenty-five thousand journal articles in the medical literature. They discovered oxytocin level abnormalities are linked to drug abuse and personality disorders. On the other hand, proper concentration of oxytocin in the brain diminishes anxiety, depression, antisocial behavior and eating disorders. A different group of researchers discovered that a puff of oxytocin into the noses of volunteers directly affected brain cells and increased feelings of trust, empathy and social cooperation.

In 2020, Canadian scientists enlisted twenty-eight patients suffering from dementia. In this cohort of patients, their research demonstrated a beneficial effect of oxytocin on neural activity.

Now that we’ve got the king all caught up on the wonders of oxytocin, let’s get back to gossiping:

In 2017, Italian scientists enlisted more than twenty volunteers to engage in a series of conversations: gossip, non-gossip-emotional and neutral. They discovered when the students were involved in gossip, their oxytocin levels became significantly elevated.

Hmm. Perhaps there’s something positive about gossip. I mean, oxytocin seems so great. It’s the love hormone, after all. And it shoots through the roof after gossip.

And the bright side of gossip goes beyond oxytocin, too!

When it comes to gossip, a group of Dartmouth scientists are true believers. In 2021, the researchers published an article in the medical literature which claimed that gossip promoted group cooperation and social bonding without the need to formally impose penalties or overt punishments. In other words, a little gossip goes a long way to ameliorating the need to lock people up or scar their back with fifty lashes.

Way back in 2015, a group of Chinese scientists evaluated brain activity during gossip. Unsurprisingly, when an individual learns that someone gossiped negatively about themself, functional MRIs uncover the anatomy of anger. The activity of an area in the superior medial prefrontal cortex, which also lights up during moral outrage, rockets to the moon. On the other hand, when learning about positive self-gossip (ooh, he’s so handsome) the subject expressed amusement and the orbital prefrontal cortex crackled with electricity.

Hearing ugly rumors and innuendo about a celebrity sends an entire brain network into overdrive. The scientists discovered that, in the case of negative celebrity gossip, the connectivity between the prefrontal executive area and the brain reward center is strengthened. The gossip-receiving brain then experienced a jolt of pleasure with each and every salacious bit of tittle-tattle.

So, what do you think? Would King Solomon reconsider his dim view of gossip?

Want to read about oxytocin and assholes? Check out

https://brain2mind.substack.com/p/be-kind-when-you-can-be-an-ashoe

Want to read about oxytocin and flowers? Check out

https://brain2mind.substack.com/p/take-a-stroll-in-the-garden-flowers-b53