Rumor is a form of information that spreads rapidly and is not verified by official sources. It is often inaccurate and can cause great emotional distress or even physical harm. It may have consequences for celebrities, politicians, places of business, and people’s personal lives. It is a difficult problem to deal with, but communication professionals can use a framework to guide their efforts to respond quickly and effectively when rumors arise.
Modern scholarly research on rumors dates back to the pioneering work of German scholar William Stern in 1902, who conducted an experiment in which subjects passed a story from ear to ear without repeating or explaining it. His work led to the creation of the rumoring theory that defines a rumor as a proposition for belief that is unverified and spreads from person to person via informal channels.
The modern understanding of rumor is informed by many theories of social cognition, including concepts such as attention, memory, and social perception. It also draws on theories of communication and psychology, such as the ‘basic law of rumor’ developed by scholars Gordon W. Allport and Leo Postman in 1946: The strength of a rumor depends on its significance to the listener multiplied by the uncertainty about whether it is true.
This theory is particularly relevant during crises and other stressful events, when people try to make sense of ambiguous or evolving information and when official sources are delayed in communicating it. In these circumstances, rumors are a natural response to the need for fast and accurate information.
Rumors are often emotionally powerful because they prey on people’s anxieties. For example, a rumor about a sexcapade at a party is likely to spread quickly because it taps into the fear of being caught in an embarrassing situation. The same is true for rumors that play on people’s hopes and fears, such as a rumor during World War II that the country’s oil reserves were low and that the war would soon end.
Creating an effective rumor requires making it as believable as possible. It should be shocking, but not too unbelievable. For example, most people won’t believe that you were attacked by a bear with a samurai sword, but they may believe that you were robbed of your favorite pair of jeans.
Another way to make a rumor more effective is by making it hard to disprove. This can be done by adding details that are believable, or by planting evidence. For example, if you start a rumor that your target ate dog food, it might seem too silly to take off. But if you plant pieces of the food around their office or in their lunch, it will seem more credible and spread faster. In addition, if you tell the rumor to someone who is very curious or gossipy, it will be more likely to get picked up and pass along.