Rumors are a type of false information, a consequence of an asymmetrical informational structure. This paper focuses on the social mechanisms of rumor fulfilling. Rumors with important contents related to people’s pe...Rumors are a type of false information, a consequence of an asymmetrical informational structure. This paper focuses on the social mechanisms of rumor fulfilling. Rumors with important contents related to people’s personal interests win acceptance through changing people’s expected payoffs, misleading people to the belief that acceptance of the rumor would beneficially outperform rejection of it. Nevertheless, it is risky to believe rumors; therefore, people make their decision whether to believe a rumor or not by referring to other people’s choices. An analysis was performed first within a game model that incorporated the variables of an individual’s expectancy and other people’s impact to predict whether the individual would accept or reject a rumor. Another analysis followed to further examine the functions of some dynamic mechanisms in rumor fulfilling when group pressure and network effects were introduced. Finally, an exploratory discussion on how to prevent rumors and erase their effects via information management strategies was presented.展开更多
文摘Rumors are a type of false information, a consequence of an asymmetrical informational structure. This paper focuses on the social mechanisms of rumor fulfilling. Rumors with important contents related to people’s personal interests win acceptance through changing people’s expected payoffs, misleading people to the belief that acceptance of the rumor would beneficially outperform rejection of it. Nevertheless, it is risky to believe rumors; therefore, people make their decision whether to believe a rumor or not by referring to other people’s choices. An analysis was performed first within a game model that incorporated the variables of an individual’s expectancy and other people’s impact to predict whether the individual would accept or reject a rumor. Another analysis followed to further examine the functions of some dynamic mechanisms in rumor fulfilling when group pressure and network effects were introduced. Finally, an exploratory discussion on how to prevent rumors and erase their effects via information management strategies was presented.
