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Some Really Good Scuttlebutt
Go ahead, spread some juicy gossip about someone you know. It'll make you feel better about yourself. But there's a condition: no bad-mouthing. A study at England's Staffordshire University found that when volunteers spread kind gossip about fictional others ("You'd never know she's actually a genius at coding"), they immediately experienced a feel-good jolt and a slight but significant (5 percent) increase in self-esteem. (Meanwhile, spreading mean-spirited rumors led them to feel a 34 percent increase in negative emotions.)