Rumors

belief of a rumor, and the rumor transmission. Pezzo and Beckstead both teach psychology classes at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg and University of South Florida Tampa, respectively. All scientific reports must follow the scientific method; they must be reasonable, accurate, and data must be interpreted fairly. Pezzo and Beckstead follow the scientific method fairly well, but their data may not be completely accurate. In this report, Pezzo and Beckstead analyze why rumors are…

Everyone has heard multiple rumors in their lives. Some are constructed in a way that makes them seem believable while others are so outlandish it seems impossible to fathom how anyone could believe such a thing. A rumor could also cause both reactions from different people. One rumor is that Procter & Gamble’s, the parent company of Folders, Pampers, and Duncan Hines, logo actually represented The Devil. The logo in question depicted the moon and stars, with the moon also depicting a man whose…

Understanding and making sense of the diverse inner psych that resides in each of us, is a daunting task. One thing is for certain, as long as humans have been able to communicate; they have had the ability to create stories and rumors. The deeper question is why? Why do people start rumors to begin with and then exactly who is spreading them? Gregory Rodriguez, a columnist with the Los Angeles Times examines these questions in his article written in 2009, called Truth is in the Ear of the…

Imagine being an innocent person accused of being a communist and jailed. In the article about McCarthy and the Red Scare, Alan Brinkley states how the Red Scare started rumors that affected the way people acted. Alan Brinkley states in the article, “The Red Scares were fears when government officials and other groups promoted a fear of communism in the United States, which would overthrow capitalism and democracy” (Brinkley). The government starts to fear that there were communists in the…

topic by groups of people that were angered by it, and eventually the government. These rumors of communism brought change in the US, and constant fear and preparation was a result. “Forty-four out of the 48 state governments in the United States passed laws between 1949 and 1955 to suppress communist activities.” (article 1) Almost all states and their governments were concerned about these communist rumors, and placed laws in their states that was an attempt to get rid of the fear from…

many rumors surrounding the royal families after the revolutions. In Russia, the people believed that Anastasia survived the brutal murder of her family by sewing jewels into her dresses. People claiming to be Anastasia, the Lost Tsarevna, of the Romanov family, kept this rumor alive. Of these imposters, the most famous was Anna Anderson. She, in 1920, came out from a canal in Berlin and claimed that she was Anastasia. The visual similarities between the two women were so uncanny that the rumor…

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie and Dry September by William Faulkner . In Dry September (1931), Faulkner shows a rumor about a negro and a white woman ( Miss minnie cooper), being attacked and raped . The story shows the effects the rumor had on the fictional town and characters . Once the barbers got a hold of the rumor they try to get to the bottom of the rumor . The barbers begin to jump to conclusions . A barber for a hero? Gothic stories seem to always have a character trying…

Collective Alienation Rumors have a profound effect on human interaction, and can cause stressful isolation of certain groups. The powerful effects of rumors in post-trauma societies is revealed in the articles, Narratives of Uncertainty: The Affective Force of Child-Trafficking Rumors in Postdisaster Aceh, Indonesia by Annemarie Samuels and Gendered War and Rumors of Saddam Hussein in Uganda by Sverker Finnström. Although mere stories or potentially false statements, rumors reveal the…

certain way that they can’t control. In Harper Lee’s famous novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, it clearly shows, through the character of Arthur Radley, how judging people based on what others say can cause false accusations shown through imagery, ironic rumor, and an unexpected plot twist. Judging people can causes other people to assume falsely about how someone look. One of the townspeople described Arthur Radley, nicknamed Boo, as having, “A long jagged scar that ran across his face…[and] teeth…

being significantly being impacted due to false rumors from some of it’s customers and competition. Mrs. Gebings phone rings asking about a false rumor, every 15 minutes. The company of P&G has become the center of attention nationwide. Many people calling seem to believe Procter’s trademark is a symbol for Satanism and devil worshipping. In July, Procter took action by filing libel suits against seven individuals for “false and malicious” rumors. Robert Norrish, public relations director for…