The Role Of Polarization In The Rumor

Sometimes, rumors meet a critical mass of belief where people that hear the rumor believe it’s true--except for those that have strong reasons to not believe--because others around them appear to believe it. Rumors reach this point by first spreading among those that have little to no direct knowledge of the topic or a low threshold for belief in the rumor (Sunstein 390). As the number of believers increase, the rumor climbs its way from those with lower thresholds to higher thresholds. If the rumor continues to grow, the quantity of believers can become so great that those with high thresholds of belief will have trouble not believing the rumor or just conforming to the swarm. Group polarization is an extension of this critical mass property: “[W]hen like-minded people deliberate, they typically end up adopting a more extreme position in line with their pre-deliberation inclinations” (Sunstein 395). In situations like these, beginning the discussion with a stance based on a rumor can be dangerous, as the rumor becomes far more ingrained into the beliefs of those participating in the discussion. Once the rumor is ingrained, replacing it with the objective truth may be a Herculean task. …show more content…
Haley. The rumor claimed that Governor Haley would soon be indicted for tax fraud (Peters 371-372). The editor of the blog that uploaded the rumor posted a link on Twitter, which was commented on by a blogger for The Hill. Several famous journalists follow The Hill’s blogger, and they reposted the story (Peters 372). Fortunately for Haley, the rumor was resolved before it was able to evolve into something else. However, the rumor may have been subject to a miniature rumor cascade as the majority of the individuals that follow the more famous journalists would respect and trust their professional