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Rumor

The spread of rumors is a pervasive aspect of American culture. The study of rumors spans many disciplines including anthropology, history, literature, communication, sociology, and social psychology. A rumor is an unverified explanation of an event, object, or issue of public concern that circulates from person to person, or an unverified relevant statement that arises during a situation of ambiguity, danger, or potential threat. In this context, rumors function to help people make sense of uncertainty, threat, or imminent danger.

Both of these definitions allude to the fact that (1) rumors are not verified, (2) a rumor has to be perceived as important enough to be passed on, (3) individuals have to have confidence in the rumor, and (4) rumors are transmitted from person to person. As a rumor is transmitted, valuable information is lost. Person A receives the full rumor intact. Person B receives Person A's reproduction of the rumor, which is somewhat smaller than the original version. Each person receives a smaller quantity of the rumor. With each smaller quantity, the rumor is reduced in accuracy.

Historical Perspective

The study of rumor is multidisciplinary, inclusive of rhetoric, sociology, and social psychology. In the field of rhetoric, Gordon W. Allport and Leo Postman conducted a study in 1947 differentiating a rumor from a legend. A legend is a “tall tale” that emphasizes the skill, wit, and exploits of an individual. It allows one to take pride in his or her culture. The motives behind transmission of a legend and a rumor are the same. They both emphasize the cognitive processes of forgetting, imagining, and rationalizing.

Folklorist Patricia Turner conducted research to determine how a traditional rumor is perpetuated among African Americans, publishing a book on this subject in 1993. Turner unearthed rumors such as drugs were deliberately planted in the black community by the Mafia and others trying to suppress the freedom of blacks, the Klu Klux Klan owned Church's Fried Chicken and several restaurants in the black community, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) plotted to kill Martin Luther King, Jr. Turner found that rumor helped the African American community cope with white oppression.

Although rumor is multidisciplinary, empirical research and guiding theoretical perspectives largely come from sociology and social psychology. Sociologists study the collective nature of rumor and how rumor functions in society, while social psychologists study how rumor is transmitted. In fact, a preponderance of the empirical studies on rumor was conducted by behavioral psychologists. Rumors were studied in controlled conditions (for example, rumor clinics), and uncontrolled conditions (for example, rumors in the natural environment already in circulation). Altman and Postman wrote the seminal text on rumor—The Psychology of Rumor—and provided the impetus for future research.

Rumor Transmission

Allport and Postman were among the first researchers to conduct a systematic study of rumor transmission and the psychological processes that affect it. They gathered their data in the 1940s from rumor clinics, including the Boston Rumor Clinic.

The two researchers reached eight conclusions based on their data: First, the flow of a rumor depends on its importance and level of ambiguity. Second, during the transmission of a rumor details are omitted, causing the rumor to be leveled. Third, in the same vein, materials that are not leveled tend to be made more important or sharpened. Fourth, distortions occur in serial messages; in addition, in some cases, the rumors become a substitute for the news.

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