“Can they stop the rumors?” asks the latest edition of "In Touch Weekly", the headline splashed in white block letters over pictures of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, or “Brangelina” as they’ve been affectionately nicknamed. The beautiful couple’s possible breakup is the latest subject of public curiosity. You probably saw the magazine while waiting in the checkout aisle or browsing the Internet. Maybe you thumbed through the pages or clicked on the link, just to pass the time, until suddenly you find yourself engrossed in the details of this latest piece of celebrity gossip.

Or maybe you’ve been the subject of a rumor. That was the case for Cece Landoli. A co-worker spread a rumor to others in the office about Iandoli’s new job offer. The rumor was littered with lies, but rather than confront the co-worker, Iandoli laughed it off. Iandoli doesn’t try to dispel rumors or gossip, believing they will dispel themselves. Her gamble paid off when she later found out that the co-worker lost a job opportunity due to spreading a different rumor, which also turned out to be a lie.

Everyone has heard a rumor at least one time in his or her life, there’s no escaping them, no matter how little TV you watch, or Internet sites you visit. They’re like flowering weeds, constantly sprouting through the sidewalk crevices of culture.

While experts hesitate to classify rumors and gossiping as instinctual, they do admit that it’s something everyone does. And surprisingly enough, it’s not all bad.

Rumors can often times get confused with gossip. Even Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines gossip as “a rumor or report of an intimate nature.” But there is a difference between the two.

“I mean it’s like two different species, sometimes they overlap,” says Nick DiFonzo, a professor of psychology at the Rochester Institute of Technology, who holds a Ph.D., and is co-author of the book Rumor Psychology.

The general definition of rumor involves unverified information within a group of people who are trying to figure out a situation, or manage a potential threat. Gossip contains private information that’s shared for entertainment purposes or for social reasons.

“A classic example of gossip is, ‘Hey A did you hear what M did at a party the other day? Can you believe that?’” DiFonzo explains.

He adds that with gossip the information may or may not be true, whereas rumors are always unverified information.

Contrary to popular belief gossiping is not purely a female sport.

“Men gossip, they absolutely gossip,” say Mark Pezzo, a psychologist at the University of Florida who has conducted studies on gossip for the past 15 years, and who also holds a Ph.D.

Although a senate hearing inspired Pezzo’s latest study, he was able to replicate the same results in a non-political setting. The study was designed to prove Pezzo’s theory that people seem to believe rumors the more they hear them, even if they don’t get any additional information.

“I think that’s fascinating because it means if you want to convince someone of something just keep saying it over and over again,” he says.

Not all rumors and gossip are negative, according to Pezzo. The majority of gossip is actually positive and habitual, while only a minority of gossip is negative. Pezzo also points out that people view gossip as mean-spirited, which is not always the case.

“If I was trying to say something about somebody I knew that was just mean, and particularly if it wasn’t true, I wouldn’t call that that gossip. That’s just lying,” says Pezzo.

SF State student Elizabeth Sanchez was the target of a negative rumor during middle school. In order to get sympathy from others, a friend told others that Sanchez was dating a boy she liked. It was not true and Sanchez ended up getting in a fistfight with the friend over the false rumors.

“I had gotten tired of her saying things,” Sanchez says. Fortunately the fight didn’t ruin their friendship, and two girls have remained friends since then.

Examples of negative gossiping and rumors are prevalent in pop culture from flicks like Mean Girls, to bloggers like Perez Hilton who’s achieved an almost celebrity-like status for dishing about the latest entertainer.

But in reality people aren’t as mean-spirited as gossip would have them appear to be, and reading about beautiful people’s fall from grace may make you feel less bad about your ordinary life.

“If Britney Spears were standing right there most people wouldn’t say anything bad about her because they don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings,” Pezzo says. “They just want to feel good about themselves.”

While there really aren’t such things as good and bad rumors, they do fall into different categories according to Dr. DiFonzo. Wedge driving rumors are usually about a group of people in order to boost the self-esteem of the people spreading the rumor. The motivation behind a rumor is another factor experts consider, which ranges from figuring out the accuracy of a rumor to an attempt to enhance a relationship.

“For example I can share a rumor and my main motivation is not so we can figure out the facts, but so that you will like me more,” explains Dr. DiFonzo.
Telling accurate, truthful information, developing a sense of trust, and disputing the rumor head on rather than avoiding it, are some simple tips to ceasing a rumor that may be negative, according to Dr. DiFonzo.

While Pezzo hesitates to classify rumor and gossip as instinctual, DiFonzo does admit that it’s something everyone does.

“Basic human desire is to make sense of the world,” says DiFonzo. “I believe it’s instinctual, not learned. It’s just something we naturally do as people.”