Who Hears What from Whom and with What Effect

Abstract

This experiment explored whether subjects, high and low in anxiety, would transmit a rumor that was believable or not believable when the rumor was told to them by a peer as opposed to an authority figure. We found that the rumor was more frequently repeated when the story was believable than unbelievable. 7he highly anxious subjects repeated the rumor more often than did the less anxious subjects only when the source was a peer.

Rumor Rest Stops on the Information Highway Transmission Patterns in a Computer-Mediated Rumor Chain

“…In a meta-analysis of seven studies, a large mean effect (r = .48) for the linear trend of anxiety on rumor transmission had been reported (Rosnow, 1991). Our findings, based on the actual statements that people used to vent their anxiety, were consistent with the previous results based on self-reported ratings of anxiety (Anthony, 1973;Esposito, 1986Esposito, /1987Jaeger et al, 1980;Kimmel & Keefer, 1991;Rosnow et al, 1988;Walker & Beckerle, 1987).…”

Towards a unified science of cultural evolution

“…Studies have used questionnaires to track either naturally occurring or experimentally introduced rumours through a small population. Jaeger et al (1980), for example, used confederates to plant a rumour in a college that some students had been caught smoking marijuana during final exams, with Jaeger et al obtaining details of transmission using questionnaires. Bordia and Rosnow (1998) have more recently studied the transmission of a rumour through an Internet community, with the electronic record of communications allowing the longitudinal study of all stages of transmission, rather than relying on retrospective accounts.…”

Rumor as Communication: A Contextualist Approach

“…In spite of the popularity of the basic law of rumor, there was never any compelling evidence in support of Allport and Postman's claim of an essential multiplicative interaction of importance and ambiguity. Some researchers have even purported that subjects were, if anything, more inclined to spread rumors that they did not consider to be important (26,54).…”

“…Rumormongering is like repeatedly loading and firing a gun. The gun is the rumor public, and the bullets are rumors that are loaded in an atmosphere of personal anxiety and general uncertainty (17,26,48). When credulity is established in the mind's eye, i.e., when it is believed the rumor is true, the trigger is pulled and the bullet fired (53).…”