A rumor is an unsubstantiated allegation that causes fear, doubt, or uncertainty among people. It is often passed from one person to another through word of mouth, but can also be shared on social media. The originator of the rumor may be known or unknown, and the information it contains can be true or false. Rumors can have serious consequences, from personal embarrassment to loss of employment.
In high school, there were many rumors that circulated about students. It was common for these rumors to be gossip about students and their behavior, but some of the rumors were downright malicious and hurtful. For example, a jealous ex-boyfriend could start a rumor about his ex-girlfriend to make them look bad or even break up their friendship. Other rumors were about student academics and extracurricular activities. The problem with these rumors is that they can be spread so easily and quickly through word of mouth and on social media.
The word rumor is derived from the Latin word rumorum, which means “noise” or “gossip.” It has become a synonym for unfounded and exaggerated information. In general, a rumor is not true and can be harmful, but it does have the potential to cause a lot of confusion. It is important to understand the nature of a rumor in order to determine how to respond to it.
Some researchers believe that rumor can be beneficial, as it provides people with a source of information that they cannot obtain from official sources. This may be especially important for people living in dangerous or unstable countries. In addition, a rumor can provide insight into how the public reacts to newsworthy events, and it can also serve as an indicator of how accurate a piece of information is.
A rumor that is circulated by word of mouth usually begins with an individual hearing or reading a report and then spreading it to others. The rumor can then spread as it is repeated, and it can be distorted over time as more details are added or incorrect facts are included. It can also be distorted by the media, which can misreport or overstate a story.
It is difficult to study rumor in naturalistic settings, because it requires real-time data collection from participants as the rumor evolves. However, new technologies like social media can facilitate rumor studies by providing tools that allow people to communicate in real-time and to collect responses from large numbers of participants.
For example, Takayasu and colleagues [20] used Twitter to track the diffusion of a rumor about the 2011 Japan earthquake that stated that rain in the aftermath might contain harmful chemicals. They looked at retweets of early tweets reporting the rumor as well as later tweets correcting it.
They found that there was a tendency for people to support unverified rumors, possibly due to a lack of counter-evidence. They also discovered that when a rumor was proven to be false, it decreased the amount of retweets.