clipped from: news.yahoo.com 
People are influenced by gossip about others, even when it contradicts what they see with their own eyes, suggests a new study.
Past research has found that gossip—those juicy tidbits of supposed fact we share about a third party—serves many purposes, including strengthening social ties, spreading social norms and helping others avoid double-crossers and other risky partners.
Hearsay can be the most reliable source of information about situations for which you have no experience. But when you hear gossip that's incongruent with a person or incident you are familiar with, you'd be smart to throw that chitchat out the window in favor of your own direct knowledge, right?
Sommerfeld and his colleagues examined how gossip transmitted information and how it affected another person's behavior.
The scientists suggest the added information might be an overload for participants, or perhaps people don't link cooperative behavior with gossip honesty.