Abstract

Rumors have been in existence since the early days. However, there are few people that understand what really rumors are and how and why they come into circulation. Therefore, this paper tries to explain how rumors come to be, how they happen and why they come to be in circulation. Additional, the paper also highlights the most appropriate ways that can be used to fight rumors when they set in. therefore, this essay simply simplifies the work for the reader by coming up with reasons why rumors take place, how they happen and finally how they can be fought in the society.

Rumors have been defined into various definitions. However, these definitions have also based on the properties of the rumors in order for one to relate the prevailing rumor with the situation at hand. For instance, rumors are always informative as they give information about what people had not heard before. Rumors also always in circulation when one remains with it then that’s no longer a rumor as no one will get the information (Gross, 2015). It’s also unverified information as no persons of authority verifies such information. Finally, rumors can be termed as instrumentally relevant as they prepare one psychological on what to do next upon verification of the rumors.

How and Why People Spread Rumors

Rumors spread because of various reasons in the society. The most relevant factor that leads to rumors is confusion which sets in when there is unverified information in the society. Therefore, people spread rumors because of the uncertainties surrounding a situation. This occurs when people lack a firm grip on what really is happening around them. For instance, rumors are bound to set in a nation one the president does not appear to the public, no communication from him for more than two months, then rumors set in as people try to explain what has happened to the president (Hook, Franks, & Bauer, 2016).

Besides that, the uncertainty surrounding the people leads to anxiety. It’s this anxiety that has been linked to rumors in most cases. Therefore, when people become anxious because of the happenings taking place in the world then they try to spread rumors and speculation why things are the way they are. This is largely because people love to be aware of their world. Besides that, the sad thing about these rumors is that the dread rumors spread more than good wishes rumor in the society.

Additionally, when information is believed to be true then there is likely to be spreading of the rumors. This is because people want to be known and seen as knowledgeable and updated on the current affairs. This because even a hot cake information when the information question is very important or rather crucial as this opens up avenues for the people to share and make conclusions about the information in circulation (Hook, Franks, & Bauer, 2016).

In addition, the spread of rumors is also done when the information bears some facts that protects their social status and image. People tend to share such information in order to make their image be seen as clean and pure before the rest as they tend to justify their previous deeds or sometimes clean their already tarnished names. Therefore, whenever information that seems good for the listeners pops up it becomes the best shot for cleaning up their tarnished names.

Ways of Fighting Rumors

These rumors are never good for the development of the organizations. Therefore, there is always need to find a way of fighting such rumors in order to avoid the negatives that are brought about by such spread of information. This can be done by not responding to such information. This ensures that the people spreading the rumors remain not being certain of what really the right information is. Therefore, this makes them remain anxious and unaware of what really is at stake of such information. However, when one responds to such information from the way of reaction it easily makes people make conclusions.

Conclusion

Rumors have been in existence is the society and it always important one understands what should be done at such specific time in order to ensure that it does not turn out to be sore. Therefore, one has to understand ways and how rumors spread and possible ways that can be used to fight rumors in order to be on the safe side.