The psychology of Rumor and Gossip
Rumor and Gossip Research had it height back in WWII, when Gordon W. Allport and Leo Postman (1947) wrote the seminal book The Psychology of Rumor. A recent APA paper by Rosnow and his student Foster summarized some of the new development in this area. According to the authors, the impetus for Allport and Postman’s research "was their concern about the damage to morale and national safety caused by menacing rumors spreading needless alarm and raising extravagant hopes (p. vii)."
Rumors are different from gossips. The former are public communications "infused with private hypotheses about how the world works (Rosnow, 1991), or more specifically, ways of making sense to help us cope with our anxieties and uncertainties (Rosnow, 1988, 2001)." Gossips are more private in nature, and "it has been theorized that gossip played a fundamental role in the evolution of human intelligence and social life (Dunbar, 2004; Davis & McLeod, 2003) and that it continues to play an active role in cultural learning (Baumeister, Zhang, & Vohs, 2004) and as a source of social comparison information (Suls, 1977; Wert & Salovey, 2004a)."
SCIENCE BRIEF
Rumor and Gossip Research
BY RALPH L. ROSNOW and ERIC K. FOSTER
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Allport and Postman called their most far-reaching assertion "the basic law of rumor." It declared that rumor strength (R) will vary with the importance of the subject to the individual concerned (i) times the ambiguity of the evidence pertaining to the topic at hand (a), or R ≈ i × a. The basic law of rumor was not empirically grounded in any rumor research, but was adapted from the earlier work of Douglas McGregor (1938) on factors influencing predictive judgments (Rosnow, 1980). One difficulty with the basic law of rumor was that the factor of "importance" was elusive and not easy for researchers to operationalize. Also of concern was that the basic law of rumor ignored the emotional context of rumor. Based on subsequent research findings, Rosnow (1991, 2001) proposed a modified theory in which rumormongering is viewed as an attempt to deal with anxieties and uncertainties by generating and passing stories and suppositions that can explain things, address anxieties, and provide a rationale for behavior. At a molar level, we can usually distinguish between two types of rumors (Rosnow, Yost, & Esposito, 1986), those invoking hoped-for consequences (wish rumors) and those invoking feared or disappointing consequences (dread rumors), but finer distinctions within each category have been described as well (e.g., DiFonzo & Bordia, 2000). Another addendum is that people have a tendency to spread rumors that they perceive as credible (even the most ridiculous stories), although when anxieties are intense, rumormongers are less likely to monitor the logic or plausibility of what they pass on to others (Rosnow, 2001).
* Allport, G. W., & Postman, L. (1947). The psychology of rumor. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
January 15th, 2008 at 10:07 am e
Your copyright discalimer is the biggest load of shit I have ever seen in my life.
Steal from someone and then blame your audience!
Your mom is, undoubtedly, embarassed.
January 15th, 2008 at 12:00 pm e
dude,
I assume you are a student and has been taught the sin of plagiarism. Apparently they forgot to tell you your rights as a reader, a writer, or a (potential) commentator. I suggest you google “fair use rights” and then decide if this is a case of stealing or exercising one’s legal rights.
You also don’t know how the web — particularly HTML and browsers — works. If my copyright disclaimers scared you, then you have not been told the truth. You are warned of the danger of using any graphical browsers now. It’s your call whether or not to use them.
- gary