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" Why do we gossip? Primarily because 1) it&amp;#039;s fun and 2) it helps us figure out what&amp;#039;s going on inside each other&amp;#039;s head. Plus, according to a few recent studies, it&amp;#039;s actually good for us. Hearing or relating exciting news spikes dopamine (the feel-good hormone) levels in our brain and helps us form bonds with the people we&amp;#039;re talking to. So, get on with it! If you need a conversation starter, here are four of our favorite topics.   1. Money and Power   Why do we love hearing salary rumors and trying to find out how much our neighbor paid for stuff? &amp;quot;Because money is an easy way to keep score,&amp;quot; says Frank McAndrew, PhD, a professor of psychology at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. It&amp;#039;s all about keeping up with the Joneses. And tracking the doings of powerful people is our way of making sure they aren&amp;#039;t engaging in anything corrupt, says Robin Dunbar, PhD. After all, you can&amp;#039;t hold their feet to the fire if you don&amp;#039;t know what they&amp;#039;re up to. Photo: Shutterstock   2. Sex and Relationships   Sex and love are things we all have in common. &amp;quot;It puts everyone on a level playing field,&amp;quot; says Helen Fisher, PhD, author of Why Him? Why Her?: How to Find and Keep Lasting Love. So when we gossip about a pal&amp;#039;s marriage, on some level we can relate\u2014either because we&amp;#039;ve been there too, or we hope we never are. What goes on between the sheets also reveals a lot about a person. &amp;quot;Infidelity, for example, isn&amp;#039;t just about sex, but reliability and trustworthiness, too,&amp;quot; says Dr. McAndrew. Photo: Thinkstock   3. Reputation   Ever notice how much chitchat you devote to people&amp;#039;s personalities? &amp;quot;Are they nice or a jerk? We talk constantly about what people are like,&amp;quot; says Emrys Westacott, PhD, professor o f philosophy at Alfred University in Alfred, New York, and author of the upcoming book The Virtues of Our Vices. With good reason: &amp;quot;We gossip about reputation to find out whom to deal with and whom to avoid,&amp;quot; says Dr. McAndrew. &amp;quot;We&amp;#039;re hypersensitive about betrayal, especially by someone we thought we could trust. We feel exploited. So we&amp;#039;re always trying to assess other people.&amp;quot; Photo: Thinkstock   4. Celebrities   From Us Weekly to TM Z, getting the latest on Tiger Woods or Brangelina is easier than ever. But why do we care? The reasons are endless: escapism from daily life, a longing to have what they have. Then there&amp;#039;s our desire to see heroes knocked off their pedestals. It&amp;#039;s tough not to envy their lavish lifestyles, so &amp;quot;often the subtext of negative gossip about them is, &amp;#039;They&amp;#039;re not that much happier than I am\u2014in fact, they&amp;#039;re more miserable,&amp;#039;&amp;quot; says Dr. Westacott. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/Getty Images    "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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