Some time ago, material about rumors appeared on the pages of VO. But let's put it this way: it's better when someone who teaches such a discipline as "Management of Public Opinion" writes about this phenomenon, that is, rumors for whom, in general, is an ordinary tool for influencing consciousness. If we turn to the monograph by V. P. Sheinov's “PR“white”and“black”(AST, Moscow, 2005), then we learn from it that this is both a social phenomenon and, at the same time, an instrument. In the United States, for example, polls from the 90s showed that more than half of Americans learned about what happened from other people and in their interpretation. Well, in modern political campaigns, rumors are used to fight their opponents, to probe public opinion (how will people look at this?) And to create an image of politics (oh, it's so good!). In addition, rumors emerge as oral folklore.
"At the Balakovo NPP, the explosion is even worse than the Chernobyl one!" - a hurried talk is heard in the telephone receiver, and now the whole family hastily swallows iodine directly from the bottle. “Ukraine has reduced the supply of salt to Russia,” not the grandmother in the gateway, but the news TV informs us, and now on the market one kilogram of her is sold for 45 rubles, although everyone knows about the salt reserves in the lakes Elton and Baskunchak almost from the third grade … What is it? Mass insanity, hypnosis or some kind of paranormal activity ?! No, no and NO! These are also the most common rumors, but very many still do not know about the reasons for their rapid spread!
Everything in this world is relative and rumors too
Well, and we must start with the fact that rumor is almost always distorted (this is the most important thing!) And not entirely reliable, and most often unverified and unverifiable information. If it is reliable, then it is no longer a rumor, but precisely "information". But if the source is not named, if it is the seven-uncle of a friend of his comrade, or “I read this somewhere, but I don’t remember where,” then this, most often, is a lie, but if you put it more mildly, then a rumor is either gossip. Although over time, rumors can be confirmed by documentary materials. In this case, rumors cease to be "rumors" and become information. Moreover, it is important to emphasize that hearing is a relative concept: what was a rumor, over time, may well turn out to be very reliable information.
“They say” is not a source
Even the ancient Greeks knew that oral messages spread surprisingly quickly. Therefore, they even invented a special goddess Ossa in the form of a woman with wings, who had only one thing to do: spread news and gossip between people. Moreover, the Greeks noticed an interesting feature of hearing: it always changes at least slightly during transmission, and today this feature has been scientifically proven. Moreover, when transmitted "from mouth to mouth" any information begins to lose its reliability and gradually turns into a real rumor! So the heralds of the Middle Ages, who read aloud the royal letters in the city squares, and our Russian heralds or priest, who called out the royal decrees at the marketplaces and fairs, inevitably turned any of these messages into … rumors, and sometimes absolutely fantastic and having nothing in common with the original information! Therefore, in the parliaments of very many countries of the world there are prohibitions to pass laws or amendments to them "by ear", since our auditory perception, alas, is imperfect.
One person - three distribution channels
Hearing is distinguished by the presence of several important characteristics. For example, one-shot reproducibility in front of the listener. And yes, of course, well, who retells the rumor to the same thing twice, well, unless you have wild sclerosis! But the one who listens practically transmits the hearing to other people. So the rumor is self-broadcast, and the media are not required for its transmission (although they also often become a source of rumors!), And therefore the costs of launching a rumor are much less than for an information campaign in the same press. Ordinary word of mouth will do its job for free and, by the way, is almost more effective than the media.
Hearing and … physiology
The secret to the attractiveness of information from an anonymous source lies in human physiology. We like to rise above others, to have what they do not have, including information. But we also like to help our neighbors (especially without straining too much!), Which also adds to our adrenaline. Both give us the spread of hearing. In this case, the human brain produces a "pleasure hormone" - dopamine. There is an accumulation of neurons or "pleasure center" in which, under the influence of dopamine, this feeling is formed, and the more dopamine in the brain, the more it gets into the pleasure center and the more, accordingly, we get pleasure. Naturally, it is produced under the influence of such sensations that a person considers as positive - these are bodily contacts, and sex with a loved one, and delicious food, and much more. Now it is clear why old grandmothers are especially fond of spreading rumors? To them, "this business" is replaced by sex, which you want, but you can't! So rumors act on our body in a similar way. Since the greatest pleasure for a person (even more than sex!) Is the feeling of self-worth, he experiences it every time, passing on hearing to another person, because he knows it, and the other does not! But the other one is also happy, as he looks forward to how he will tell this in turn to other people, and he will be able to feel the same at the same time! Thus, by spreading rumors, people do not lose anything, but only gain, and even to a certain extent replace their sex life - although it would be more correct to say not life, but the pleasures it gives!
Rumor classics
In turn, the opinion about the "nationality" of hearing (in fact, most often, it is erroneous!) - after all, all people cannot lie and make mistakes - increases its reliability in their eyes. It turns out that anonymous rumor is a kind of conversation of one collective mind with another. Well, it is also attractive because it contains information that is usually hushed up by the official media or people in power. Remember the words of Pushkin in his tragedy "Boris Godunov":
But you know yourself: volatile rabble
Changeable, rebellious, superstitious, An easily empty hope betrayed
Obedient to instant suggestion, To the truth is deaf and indifferent, And she feeds on fables …
Well, yes, our great classic did not think too highly of the Russian people, but although a lot of time has passed, nothing has changed much. True, we do know for sure that the “circulation zone” of rumors is equal to the “zone of silence” in the media and vice versa!
The rumors contain answers to massive anxious expectations that are stored deep in the soul of every person, but which he is embarrassed to express. Hearing may well be the answer to certain social desires. Well, for example, about the imminent arrival of a certain Moscow official who "will put things in order." They also contain information that is interesting to the people about the people that everyone is talking about. Such topics have always aroused and arouse the keenest interest of a huge audience. The reason is clear if we recall the following aphorism of Kozma Prutkov: “Smart people discuss theories. Ordinary people are events. Fools discuss personalities! " And … isn't it clear that there are the majority of such people in any society ?!
Types of rumors
There are two typologies of rumors, one of which is deduced from their reliability, and the other puts the emotional coloring of one or another rumor at the forefront. According to their reliability, they are divided into four types:
rumors are absolutely unreliable, rumors are simply unreliable, rumors are reliable and close to reality.
From the point of view of emotional coloring, rumors are: reflecting the desire of society, "hearing - desire" first type) and "hearing - a scarecrow" (or "hearing - a horror story"), which plays the role of "fear vaccination". It may be a rumor about an impending collision with the planet Nibiru, that the asteroid Apophis is about to fall, that global warming will flood the entire land - these are "scary rumors." And our emotions, such as fear and hope, feed them, and superstitions, including very ancient ones, feed them.
For example, during the Second World War, the guerrillas in the Philippines caused a lot of trouble for the Americans. However, they found that the guerrillas were afraid of vampire bats. Rumors began to spread, one more terrible than the other, and then they threw the exsanguinated corpse of a rebel with two characteristic holes in the neck. And after all, the partisans left this area, although they could not achieve this by military force.
"Ridiculous rumors" in all typologies stand apart, because their main feature is their absurdity. For example, there was a rumor that the daughter of the governor of the Ensk region was a drug addict, that she was sent to St. Petersburg for treatment with electric shocks, where half of her brains were burned out by mistake, which made her a complete idiot. The fact that at that very time she got married, and they wrote about this in the newspapers, did not bother the "rumors" at all. "And they hide it!" - they answered. - "A similar girl was found, and she was married off!" “So that this, like him, does not lose its image! - the third whispered, although in reality everyone wanted only one thing, so that … "the rich also cried!"
Rumors are weapons
A separate category is “hearing-aggression” - which is a kind of “hearing-scarecrow”. At the heart of it is the constantly escalating tension. Through such rumors in the middle of the 19th century, an uprising of Indian mercenary soldiers - sepoys, among whom there were many opponents of British rule in India, was provoked. And so they spread the rumor that the cartridges for the new rifles were smeared with lard and lard. Muslims are not allowed to eat pork, Hindus are not allowed to eat beef. And then, on the command "bite the patron", you had to touch them with your lips, that is, to commit a terrible sin!
In Malaysia, many years later, rumors began to circulate about Colgate Palmolive that it was using lard for its toothpaste. Sales eventually plummeted, with Muslim students being the first to refuse to buy it. That is, it was a special campaign aimed at reducing the presence of this company's product volumes in the Malaysian markets.
Rumors "about politicians"
Since most of all people are interested in personalities, both politicians and those who are still only entering politics become objects of rumors more easily than anyone else. They are distributed according to the "damaged telephone" scheme, and at the same time they are distorted more and more, and their destructive power only grows. The result of this may be an erosion of public confidence in a candidate or an already working representative of power structures, as well as a deterioration in the emotional mood of voters in general - "they say, for whom you will not vote - all the same result …", and most importantly - the loss of the candidate against whom this weapon. However, it should be noted that rumors during the election campaign affect the masses only when there is a lack of officially submitted information on the entire range of issues that interest people.
The profession is a rumor maker
But how do they launch these same rumors, and how you can defend against them - this is a topic that is certainly interesting for many, and, above all, because it is not always clear and understandable about this even in manuals on "black and white" PR. Most often, it is said that as a rumor was born, it will also die! But is it always so, and most importantly, how are these very rumors launched? Who is doing this? Yes, there is such a profession, albeit an unofficial one - "rumor makers", that is, people who skillfully create and spread rumors. And they are also fighting against already running and spreading rumors. Well, now let's take a look at a few rumor-triggering technologies …
Conversations at the well
An ancient and tried-and-true way to trigger your ear is to “talk at the well”. Once upon a time, it was at the city well that women from various houses met and talked, waiting for their turn. The maids wentssip about who was whose mistress, the girls - they discussed the gentlemen, women in marriage - children and husbands. The conversation was also about food, i.e. there was an exchange of recipes for cooking, but they also talked about fashion and prices. Today there are points where they sell clean drinking water - why not a well, especially in the heat? Pharmacies, queues at the checkout in supermarkets, a children's sandbox where mothers "graze" their babies - these are the places where women exchange information "first-hand" and for some reason trust those who are here next to them, rather than anyone MASS MEDIA!
Therefore, rumors about new drugs and methods of treatment are launched here, for which a special "informant" is introduced into the queue at the pharmacy, whose task is to enter into conversations with people and share "personal" experience. At the same time, the rumor is one hundred percent anonymous, but at the same time its source is trustworthy, especially if the image of this person is well thought out. For example, he can be disguised as a war veteran, to whom it is simply worthless to lie, as evidenced by his gray hair, his honest eyes and orders in full chest!
Chatty deuce
When people who were in a hurry to work so recently leave public transport and their place is taken by grandmothers going about their "grandmother's" business, they do not even suspect that they are becoming fertile ground for launching rumors through the "talkative two". "Deuce" can be two girls with legs from the shoulders. They enter a bus, trolleybus or tram, continuing their interrupted conversation, and do not pay attention to anyone.
- Don't you know that our candidate for the City Duma is N blue? One asks loudly.
- Oh really? It can't be! - the friend does not believe her.
- Yes, exactly, - the friend says confidently. - My boyfriend works for him as a chauffeur and almost became the object of harassment himself. And how many such people he brought to his dacha … you can’t imagine! Let's choose this one, and he will use our entire budget for the "boys"!
Everything! You don't need to say anything else, but you need to get off this bus and immediately change to the next one going in the same direction. The calculation is based on the fact that, having heard a conversation that does not relate to him personally, a person will immediately convey this news to at least three people. As a result, two such "girls" in a city with a population of 500 thousand on one single route are able to convey this rumor to the population of this city in just a day! But you cannot repeat this operation on a transport going in the opposite direction! You never know who you can meet there.
Chatty deuce plus a man with a crutch
This method is more complicated, more expensive, but its effectiveness is much higher than in the case of the "two". Three people get on the bus at once. Two are close in age and young people, and the third "character" is their direct opposite. For example, an Afghan soldier with a crutch, an old woman, a woman with a purse, the same war veteran, or a fine-looking invalid with a stick.
These two talk to each other, and the third first listens to them, and only then loudly addresses the passengers: here, they say, to what debauchery has come in our country. At the same time, the veteran should knock himself on the chest with his fist and say to the whole bus: “Why did our grandfathers and fathers die ?!” A woman in a handkerchief to declare that He sees everything from above - that is, to draw the attention of the majority to what is happening.
Moreover, since the most perfect antipodes are involved in this "action", no one would even think of suspecting them in any connection, and the rumor itself may have a link to a completely "reliable source" - for example, the seven-uncle's nephew of a second cousin!
Reception of a crooked source
Since many people today draw information on the Internet, it has also become an object of work for rumor makers. It is clear that you cannot post false information. But the specialists - rumor makers have created a technique that is called the "crooked source method".
Its essence lies in the fact that the information that you need to start hearing is not posted on the Internet immediately, but in parts. People begin to discuss them, and you, knowing that it will be so, no longer refer to this source itself, but to what others have said about it. You will comment not on your own, but on other people's points of view and at the same time add, "I think so, because so many people say this!" The biggest thing they can reproach you with is that you are repeating someone else's lie, but you yourself, of course, are not at all involved in it!
Dosing rumors
An important point when launching rumors is dosing them. Many, demonstrating their erudition, but in fact its absence, repeat the words of Goebbels that, they say, the more improbable the rumor, the more effective it is. And - yes, Goebbels' propaganda really demanded that the lie be simply monstrous, they say, then people would more willingly believe it. In fact, our consciousness protects us from a very gross deception. So now it is generally accepted that information that is triggered as a rumor should be strictly dosed. Too frank lies are always in doubt, and today all experts recommend avoiding it!
How to deal with rumors?
Yes, it is possible and necessary to fight them. First of all, it is the fight against the lack of information, since hearing dies with sufficient information. The easiest way to kill your rumor is to publish it in print. No one will pass word-of-mouth printed rumors, because anyone who dares to do so may lose face before the person to whom he will transmit this information just as a rumor. At the same time, rumors today can become good news stories for the media. You just need to say: "How can you comment on the rumors that …?" - and further, the more this person talks about this rumor, the more he will “kill” it! No one wants to repeat what has been "exposed" before the whole world!
Well, and, finally, a very beautiful way of killing hearing is a press conference (especially somewhere in the provinces, where people are not spoiled by various sensations), at which all this is told to journalists, they say, all these techniques were used against me as a leading candidate. Then the journalists, and those to whom they tell about it, will forget all this under the weight of the next news. Proven and Calculated: 90% will forget after 90 days! But first, they will all think of you with gratitude, because you have revealed such a "secret" to them! Well, for some time people on buses will take almost every loud conversation for an attempt to trigger hearing, although over time they will no longer pay attention to it.
Once again on the benefits of rumors
By the way, a rumor circulated at MacDonalds for many years in a row, which then grew into a legend that Ray Cross, the founder of this company, once found one single fly in one of his restaurants. But even one fly did not meet the company's requirements for service, cleanliness and honesty. Therefore, two weeks later, this restaurant lost the right to use the MacDonalds brand. But the company's employees subsequently for a long time looked for various ways to destroy flies - and, of course, you will agree that the benefits of such a rumor were obvious.
