A rumor is an unsubstantiated story that spreads person to person through word of mouth. Rumors can be both true and false and can affect the behavior of people for good or bad. Often rumors are about someone being hurt or some type of injustice occurring, but they can also be about something positive like a celebrity visiting the town.
While it is impossible to stop all rumors, it is important that we try to keep the number of rumor mills in our community under control. When a rumor is spread it can cause embarrassment, hurt feelings and even physical damage. For example if a rumor is spread that someone is having an affair it can lead to their partner finding out and being hurt as well. Another rumor that can spread is a negative one about a child being bullied. These types of rumors should be reported to an Anti-Bullying Ambassador or trusted adult.
One way to help control the number of rumors is through educational workshops and events. These workshops can focus on topics such as the importance of reporting a rumor and how to deal with gossip. Educators can also incorporate games and activities that show how harmful a rumor can be, such as the game ‘Telephone’. This game involves whispering a word to someone else who then whispers it to the next person and so on. The last person to receive the rumor is usually far away from the initial word and this shows how a rumor can become far removed from reality.
In addition to education, a workshop can help with preventing the spread of a rumor by training students to recognize when a rumor is spreading and how they can respond. An example of this would be a class that is being held in Wayne Hall and there is a rumor going around that the students do not like the food at the school. If a student hears the rumor they could tell other students to avoid Wayne Hall, this will prevent the rumor from spreading.
Researchers have studied rumors from many different perspectives, from psychological studies to computational analyses [10]. In 1947, Allport conducted an experiment that showed the effect of a rumor on the beliefs and emotions of people. He compared the opinions of college students who had heard a rumor about losses at Pearl Harbor with those of the same group of people five days later after President Roosevelt allayed the rumor. The students who had heard the rumor were much more likely to believe that losses at Pearl Harbor were higher than officially stated.
To investigate the effects of a rumor on individuals, scholars have used the social network analysis software program TweetMiner to analyse rumours on Twitter and other computer networks such as BITnet. This software allows for the tracing of statements from the beginning to the end of a rumour and can identify a number of characteristics such as evidentiality, whether the rumour is based on first-hand experience, whether it includes a URL that points to evidence, or whether it is a quotation from an accessible source. These characteristics are displayed on a timeline that colour-codes a rumour according to its veracity status as it progresses through the network.