Why Rumors Spread

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What makes a rumor spread so fast and keep spreading? A rumor is information or a story that is passed from person to person but has not been proven to be true (Rumor). There have been many studies on why rumors spread. Rumors can be spread in ways such as person to person, and virtually. The reason why rumors are spread is a broader topic. Researchers believe that a great deal of rumors spread because of anxiety and fear. There are also ways to prevent rumors. Rumors are very powerful if not stopped in the early stages, due to the fear and many ways they can be spread. The fear instilled in people that a rumor could be true is what truly makes the rumor flourish. The emotion that backs up a rumor is what makes it spread easily. It is not …show more content…

They start them in certain places, typically colleges, and see how students react to them. The researchers start rumors that they feel will spread on a college campus. In spreading rumors they have found that rumors about wars, murders and other disturbing events spread quickly by students (Anatomy). The researchers also work on finding out why students believe what they hear and why the students continue to spread that particular rumor. The researchers have found that typically rumors spread due to the fear that a rumor could be true. It has been researched that people spread rumors more often because they are anxious that it could actually happen (Anatomy).
Rumors are strong and powerful. In the article Anatomy of a Rumor: It Flies on Fear, written by Daniel Goldman, he states that rumors are “thriving because of their ability to create the very anxieties that make them spread, and to mutate to fit new situations” (Anatomy). What is being said in this quote is true. Logically rumors spread because people believe that the rumor could be true, this would be the fear that is instilled into the rumor. Fear and Anxiety play a good role in …show more content…

There are also ways to fight a rumor. When there were rumors being spread about President Obamas family the thing he did was to create a website and post what things were true and what were not. In the article How to fight a rumor by Jesse Signal he explains that was Obama did might have actually been a good choice, “new research into the science of rumors suggests Obama’s approach may be a sounder strategy – and the reason why it makes sense suggests that we both misunderstood how and why rumors work and why they exist” (How). This quote shows that proving that your rumors are or are not true might be the best thing that can be done to help the can of the

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