Robb Willer wants to spread the word about his latest study.

Gossip has always been associated with a destructive, rumour-mongering culture known for tarnishing reputations, but Willer's new research not only shines a positive light on the act of gossiping, it actually reveals social and psychological benefits. Go ahead and tell your friends.

"Gossip gets a bad rap," says the University of California (Berkeley) social psychologist, who co-wrote the study with Matthew Feinberg, Jennifer Stellar and Dacher Keltner. "Much of what we call gossip is driven by a sincere desire to help others."

As the study points out, this goodwill plays an important role in maintaining social order and relieving frustrations, and although Willer acknowledges that false and degrading rumours are socially harmful, his research, published in a recent issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, focuses on the dynamics behind "pro-social gossip."

"We find that much gossip has both positive effects and moral motivations," Willer says. "Gossip can be quite virtuous."

In one of the study's four experiments, 51 volunteers were hooked up to heart rate monitors as they observed two people playing a game where it became apparent that one was cheating. This sent the observers' heart rates up and most took the chance to slip a "gossip note" to a new player that their opponent wasn't playing by the rules. By doing so, their heart rates calmed down.

"Gossiping can make you feel better, and you might even say it's therapeutic," Willer says. "When people pass on information about others who are selfish and un-trustworthy, it warns others to avoid these people. As a result, overall rates of exploitation can be controlled in the group."

The other three experiments, which used exercises comparable to the first, revealed similar results about subjects and their innate urges to tattletale on bad behaviour. If people don't gossip, Willer found, frustration and negativity build up, as with any emotion people tend to suppress. Although there wasn't an exact measure of angst in those who didn't pass on a gossip note, Willer notes that "we just know that they failed to release their feelings of frustration."

"The emotions result surprised me," he says. "I didn't expect that gossip would serve the function of quieting the distress people feel upon observing untrustworthy, selfish behaviour."

While Willer doesn't discount the option of being straightforward, he explains that direct communication doesn't always happen, and that's where pro-social gossip comes in to save the day, and save yourself from stress.