Why be concerned with gossip?
Because it is much easier, as well as far more enjoyable, to identify and label the mistakes of others than to recognize our own.
Questioning what we believe and want is difficult at the best of times, and especially difficult when we most need to do it, but we can benefit from the informed opinions of others.
Many of us spontaneously anticipate how friends and colleagues will evaluate our choices; the quality and content of these anticipated judgments therefore matters.
The expectation of intelligent gossip is a powerful motive for serious self-criticism.
Daniel Kahneman
