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Diogenes
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Rumor, Gossip and Urban Legends

Nicholas DiFonzo

Rochester Institute of Technology

Prashant Bordia

University of South Australia, Adelaide

The term ‘rumor’ is often used interchangeably with ‘gossip’ and ‘urban legend’ by both laypersons and scholars. In this article we attempt to clarify the construct of rumor by proposing a definition that delineates the situational and motivational contexts from which rumors arise (ambiguous, threatening or potentially threatening situations), the functions that rumors perform (sense-making and threat management), and the contents of rumor statements (unverified and instrumentally relevant information statements in circulation). To further clarify the rumor construct we also investigate the contexts, functions and contents of gossip and urban legends, juxtapose these with rumor, and analyze their similarities and differences.

Diogenes, Vol. 54, No. 1, 19-35 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0392192107073433
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?