Why are we so often spreading rumors when not outright gossiping? “Sociologists explain rumors as collective sense-making. In each case, there is a gap in the authoritative explanation for some period of time, and rumors filled in that gap” – says Dan Zarrella in ‘Zarrella’s Hierarchy of Contagiousness: The Science, Design, and Engineering of Contagious Ideas‘.
Hence creating and spreading rumors would be a mechanism for us to make sense of events or situations for which we would not have a satisfactory explanation. Sometimes this exercise degenerates into conspiracy theories, however it generally remains at a more innocuous level.
Rumors disappear instantly when a clear and unambiguous explanation is given, which is the right way to kill them.
With the Fourth Revolution our capability to spread rumors has increased dramatically on the social networks, which is sometimes destructive. Giving as soon as possible an authoritative explanation is the best way to destroy them.
