A Contribution to the Psychology of Rumor
A Contribution to the Psychology of Rumor

Author: Carl Jung

Publisher: Livraria Press

Published: 2024-05-09

Total Pages: 86

ISBN-13: 3689384761

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Jung's previously unpublished essay "Ein Beitrag zur Psychologie des Gerüchtes" is his account of a case he was asked to consult on at a school involving a thirteen-year-old pupil, Marie X., who was expelled from school for spreading a rumor about her teacher. The rumor originated from a dream Marie shared with friends, describing a series of events involving her teacher in ambiguous sexual contexts. Jung decided that the rumors were modified by the immaturity of the schoolmates, and recommended to the school that the student be re-admitted. In this work, Jung examines the role of projection—the unconscious act of attributing one's own feelings, thoughts, or motives onto others—as a central factor in how rumors are created and sustained. According to Jung, rumors are often driven by unconscious fears and desires, and they reveal underlying psychological and cultural anxieties that are shared by a group. He argues that as rumors spread, they undergo a process of transformation and amplification, often becoming more fantastical as each person adds their own interpretation or emotional weight. Jung also emphasizes the collective nature of rumors, suggesting that they are not merely individual acts of misinformation, but are deeply rooted in the collective unconscious, where shared symbols, archetypes, and fears influence the content and form of the rumor. He uses this analysis to suggest that rumors can be seen as a reflection of the psychological state of a community or society, offering insights into the fears, desires, and unspoken tensions that lie beneath the surface. This essay is a critical contribution to Jung's broader work on the collective unconscious and the role of shared psychic phenomena in shaping human behavior.

Rumor Psychology
Rumor Psychology

Author: Nicholas DiFonzo

Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13:

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In ""Rumor Psychology: Social and Organizational Approaches"", expert rumor researchers Nicholas DiFonzo and Prashant Bordia investigate how rumors start and spread, the accuracy of different types of rumor, and how rumors can be controlled, particularly given their propagation across media outlets and within organizations. Rumors are an enduring feature of our social and organizational landscapes. They attract attention, evoke emotion, incite involvement, affect attitudes and actions - and they are ubiquitous. Rumor transmission is motivated by three broad psychological motivations - fact-finding, relationship-enhancement, and self-enhancement - all of which help individuals and groups make sense in the face of uncertainty. Rumor is closely entwined with a host of social and organizational phenomena, including social cognition, attitude formation and maintenance, prejudice and stereotyping, group dynamics, interpersonal and intergroup relations, social influence, and organizational trust and communication. Organizational rumors, in contrast with natural disaster rumors, tend to be highly accurate, with accuracy being affected by cognitive, motivational, situational, group, and network factors. DiFonzo and Bordia describe how managers can most effectively manage and refute rumors and infer that employee trust in management inhibits rumor activity.

The Psychology of Rumor
The Psychology of Rumor

Author: Gordon Willard Allport

Publisher:

Published: 2022-11-06

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781955087339

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In the early '40s, rumors about World War II began to spread throughout the United States. The U.S. government was worried about the possible dangers of these rumors and the adverse effects that they could have on American society. The U.S.A. entered World War II on December 8, 1941, and to fight rumors dangerous to national security, the U.S. government decided to encourage social scientists to study the phenomenon of rumors. After the war, Allport and Postman published The Psychology of Rumor (1947). This study was a breakthrough in social psychology. Allport and Postman (1947) defined rumors as propositions of faith on specific (or current) topics that pass from person to person, usually by word of mouth, without evidence of their truth. We have republished, as a facsimile edition, Allport's original work of 1947. This book has been formatted from its original version for publication. IMPORTANT, although we have attempted to maintain the integrity of this title accurately, the present reproduction could have minor errors due to the age of the original scanned copy.

Rumors
Rumors

Author: Jean-Noel Kapferer

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-07-12

Total Pages: 298

ISBN-13: 1351492489

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Rumors may be the oldest medium of mass communication of information or ideas. Even before there were newspapers, radio, or television, rumors communicated by word-of-mouth made and shattered reputations, and set off riots and wars. Yet contrary to predictions, rumors continue to thrive, in spite of and parallel to mass media. What accounts for the puzzling persistence and continuing significance of this little-studied social phenomenon? Jean-No;el Kapferer examines the theory and practice of rumors, focusing on specific areas such as entertainment, criminal behavior, business and finance, and politics. He describes the kinds of conditions that give birth to rumors, why we believe them, and the hidden messages they convey. Kapferer points out that rumors frequently serve useful social purposes and present rich examples. He speculates about how rumors can be controlled, changed, and prevented. Drawing upon contributions of disciplines ranging from psychology to history, and integrating the insights of Europeans with the latest work of American researchers, this is the most comprehensive examination of rumors, gossip, and urban legends yet published. Translated into nine languages, this edition was updated with advances in theory and research since the book's original French publication in 1987. Its brisk, accessible style makes the book of interest to psychologists, economists, political scientists, sociologists, and folklore analysts, as well as the general reader who is curious about the origins of this fascinating social phenomenon.

On Rumors
On Rumors

Author: Cass R. Sunstein

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2014-03-10

Total Pages: 122

ISBN-13: 0691162506

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Many of us are being misled. Claiming to know dark secrets about public officials, hidden causes of the current economic situation, and nefarious plans and plots, those who spread rumors know precisely what they are doing. And in the era of social media and the Internet, they know a lot about how to manipulate the mechanics of false rumors—social cascades, group polarization, and biased assimilation. They also know that the presumed correctives—publishing balanced information, issuing corrections, and trusting the marketplace of ideas—do not always work. All of us are vulnerable. In On Rumors, Cass Sunstein uses examples from the real world and from behavioral studies to explain why certain rumors spread like wildfire, what their consequences are, and what we can do to avoid being misled. In a new afterword, he revisits his arguments in light of his time working in the Obama administration.

Speaking with Vampires
Speaking with Vampires

Author: Luise White

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2023-04-28

Total Pages: 374

ISBN-13: 0520922298

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During the colonial period, Africans told each other terrifying rumors that Africans who worked for white colonists captured unwary residents and took their blood. In colonial Tanganyika, for example, Africans were said to be captured by these agents of colonialism and hung upside down, their throats cut so their blood drained into huge buckets. In Kampala, the police were said to abduct Africans and keep them in pits, where their blood was sucked. Luise White presents and interprets vampire stories from East and Central Africa as a way of understanding the world as the storytellers did. Using gossip and rumor as historical sources in their own right, she assesses the place of such evidence, oral and written, in historical reconstruction. White conducted more than 130 interviews for this book and did research in Kenya, Uganda, and Zambia. In addition to presenting powerful, vivid stories that Africans told to describe colonial power, the book presents an original epistemological inquiry into the nature of historical truth and memory, and into their relationship to the writing of history.

Admirable Evasions
Admirable Evasions

Author: Theodore Dalrymple

Publisher: Encounter Books

Published: 2015-03-24

Total Pages: 71

ISBN-13: 1594037884

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In Admirable Evasions, Theodore Dalrymple explains why human self-understanding has not been bettered by the false promises of the different schools of psychological thought. Most psychological explanations of human behavior are not only ludicrously inadequate oversimplifications, argues Dalrymple, they are socially harmful in that they allow those who believe in them to evade personal responsibility for their actions and to put the blame on a multitude of scapegoats: on their childhood, their genes, their neurochemistry, even on evolutionary pressures. Dalrymple reveals how the fashionable schools of psychoanalysis, behaviorism, modern neuroscience, and evolutionary psychology all prevent the kind of honest self-examination that is necessary to the formation of human character. Instead, they promote self-obsession without self-examination, and the gross overuse of medicines that affect the mind. Admirable Evasions also considers metaphysical objections to the assumptions of psychology, and suggests that literature is a far more illuminating window into the human condition than psychology could ever hope to be.

Rumor Mills
Rumor Mills

Author: Veronique Campion-Vincent

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-07-05

Total Pages: 283

ISBN-13: 1351492527

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The goal of this volume is to explore the social and political dynamics of rumor and the related concept of urban or contemporary legend. These forms of communication often appear in tandem with social problems, including riots, racial or political violence, and social and economic upheavals. The volume emphasizes the connection of rumor to a set of social concerns from government corruption and corporate scandal, to racial, religious, and other prejudices. Central to the dialogue are issues of truth, belief, history, public policy, and evidence.Rumor has been recognized as one of the most important contributing factors to violence and discrimination. Yet, despite its significance in exacerbating social discord and mistrust, little systematic scholarly attention has been paid to the political origins and consequences of rumor. Rumor is defined as a proposition for belief that is not backed by secure standards of evidence. Rumor can be traditional or not, and can be expressed as a simple claim of fact. In both instances groups of claim-makers, operating out of their own interests and with a set of resources, attempt to depict reality, and if possible, impact the future.The need for this book is underscored by changing patterns of technology. What in the past was grounded in face- to-face interaction is now often found on the Internet, which is a major source of rumor. An appreciation of how new electronic forms of communication affect communal belief is essential for explicating rumor dynamics. The volume is comprehensive. Essays cover race and ethnicity, migration and globalization, corporate malfeasance, and state and government corruption. While editors and contributors well appreciate the dynamic nature of rumors and legends, the high quality of the effort make it evident that the issues that are raised and reoccur will serve to channel and inspire research in this major field of communications research for years to come.