Communications as Cultural Science

Abstract

And of so easy and so plain a st@ That the blunt monster with uncounted heads,The still-discordant wavering multitude, Can play upon it. KING Its meaning, functions, and life style are reviewed in this call for a new departure in rumor research.Some rumors may signal the unsettling overture to psychological or social discord. An example was a rumor, reported by Morin (55), of vanishing women in Orleans, France. In spring 1969, a teenage fantasy swelled into a spitefully hostile, anti-Semitic rumor when it was alleged that young girls had been drugged and imprisoned by Jewish shopkeepers and then spirited away in the dark of night to foreign centers of prostitution. In reality, there was not a kernel of truth to the story from beginning to end. Nothing extraordinary was discovered that could have provided some factual basis for the rumor; no women were even missing in OrlCans. Other researchers have also described a pattern in the diffusion of hearsay (21,32,36,49,52, 69). What do these reports have in common? What are the functions of rumormongering? What stages typically occur in the life cycle of a rumor? In this paper I shall review what is known on the social psychology of rumors and rumormongering, and also speculate on some aspects of the topic with the hope of rekindling scientific interest in it. Ralph L. Rosnow is Professor of Psychology at Temple University. His other research interests have been in attitude change and in the social psychology of behavioral research, more particularly in the role of the "good subject." His books include Experiments in Persuasion and Artifact in Behavioral Research, and he is co-author with Robert Rosenthal of the forthcoming Primer of Methods for the Behavioral Sciences.Thanks are due Jeffrey Goldstein and Howard Fromkin for their helpful comments on an earlier draft, and Susan Anthony, Donna DiFurio, and Marianne Jaeger for assisting in the literature search.

Employees’ perceptions of workplace gossip in the hospitality industry

“…The terms "gossip" and "rumour" are almost indistinguishable and often used interchangeably among the public and even the academics (Horodowich, 2021;Michelson & Mouly, 2000;Rosnow, 1974), they can be encountered in any place where people exist and generally confused in some cases. The source of gossip and rumour is usually third parties, and in many cases the source and location of the message are not easily known (DiFonzo & Bordia, 2007a).…”

Establishing the typology and the underlying structure of rumor-combating behaviors: a multidimensional scaling approach

“…Rumor-combating behaviors 3.1 Rumor and rumor combating Rumors go through the whole life cycle process from emergence to extinction (Zhu and Wang, 2017). Rosnow (1974) believes that the life cycle of online rumors comprises three stages: partition, diffusion, and control. After appearing in the partition stage, rumors spread rapidly in the diffusion stage.…”

“…After appearing in the partition stage, rumors spread rapidly in the diffusion stage. It is only at the control stage that the rumors are verified as true or false (Rosnow, 1974;Chua et al, 2020). It is obvious that we should fight against false rumors.…”

Who is more likely to spread rumors? A study of the relationship be- tween critical thinking, health anxiety, helpfulness, exhibitionism, and health rumor transmission on WeChat among older adults in China

“…Norris [43] argued that members of online communities who share the latest news or rumors are providing a valuable and desired resource to the community. If the rumors turn out to be true, then the rumormonger will gain the prestige of being an expert [44] and will be reflected favorably by others [45] . Marett and Joshi [46] found that reputation-related motivations were signifi cantly related to rumor transmission.…”