Why rumors spread
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Cover of “The Age of Rumors” by Misa Matsuda / Courtesy of Chungrim Publishing Company
Book explores the nature of rumors and how to deal with them
By Yun Suh-young
Everyone has experienced hearing a rumor about them that was so nonsensical that it wasn't even funny.
Then why do rumors spread and why does incorrect information spread rampantly?
The answer is in the book “The Age of Rumors,” written by Misa Matsuda, a professor at Chuo University in Japan. It delves into the topic of rumor, discussing its evolution in history and how it has influenced people throughout the world.
Matsuda views rumor in a multidimensional way, examining its positive role as well as the negative. Sometimes rumors can be a means of reaching the best survival solution during a natural disaster when information is restricted, while at other times rumors categorized as “urban myth” trying to create fear among the public can simply be a nuisance in maintaining social order.
Unconfirmed information spread as rumors can cause huge economic loss. Incorrect rumors like “such and such bank will be bankrupt within few days,” which were not ill-intentioned but simply arose out of one person’s fear, have spread many times in Japan and have caused some banks to go bankrupt.
Then there's the more personal rumor, “gossip,” which is usually about a person or situation. Gossip can start without ill-intention and simply from the desire to know about, to speak to, or to connect with other people. Matsuda says gossip serves three functions _ the acquiring of information, confirming and forming collective standards, and entertaining.
Matsuda claims that to understand rumors, we must understand human relationships, because rumors are spread through the human network.
People tend to feel friendliness or appreciation through a friend or an acquaintance sharing “exclusive” information. Rumors, therefore, serve to strengthen relationships between people, says Matsuda. As a result, when a person hears a rumor from a close acquaintance, it is difficult to deny the incorrectness of it, because denying it can be considered disrespectful to the counterpart's kind effort in sharing the information.
The incorrectness of rumors results from distortion of information in the process of delivery from person to person. Complicated information is simplified and some parts are emphasized more than others. At times, the story flows in a radical direction, depending on the prejudice of the person telling the story. People tend to tell a story reflecting on their own experiences, interests or prejudices. People do not remember exactly as they saw, but squeeze out memory through mixing language, culture and knowledge that is already in their head. Memories are collective and can be edited at all times. This is why the final information that reaches the counterpart turns into a completely different story from the original.
In the age of the Internet, media plays a big role in spreading rumors because at times they publish rumors in the form of news, without investigating the truth.
So how are we to deal with rumors?
If you're a news consumer, pay careful attention to the logic of the news that is spreading and carry reasonable suspicion about the information.
If you're the one embroiled in it, Matsuda says it is not enough simply to clarify the truth. To wipe out rumor, there is a need to weaken the story or the mythical elements in the story that people want to believe. Because, in the end, people don't really care if the rumor is true or not, they're just attracted to the story.
The fact a rumor spreads is a reflection that people are interested in that person, says the author. That said, look at the people around you and you might be able to trace the evidence of a rumor.