每一次大型社会问题的爆发，都伴随着谣言四起，这一次新型冠状病毒也不例外。即使受过严格心理学训练的专业人员，一不小心也被误导，进而再误导了别人。这一次，笔者本着谨慎学习的态度，为了使大家学会辨别谣言，特此翻译了一篇社会心理学博士的文章。最关键的是，在互联网时代，教会大家Do not be Evil不作恶！

1、什么算作“谣言”？

What Counts as a “Rumor”?

首先，以社会心理学家的方式来定义“谣言”的含义。Nicholas DiFonzo和Prashant Bordia描述了谣言的四种基本特征：

Let’s start by defining what we mean by a “rumor” in the same way social psychologists have. Nicholas DiFonzo and Prashant Bordia describe four basic qualities of rumors:

它们是信息声明。我们并不是在谈论人们的观点。相反，谣言是为了提供信息。

They are information statements. We’re not talking about the opinions that people share. Instead, rumors are meant to be informative.

他们在流通。换句话说，如果您有自己的个人阴谋论，认为月球不是真实的，那么从不告诉任何人也就不是谣言。

They are in circulation. In other words, if you have your own personal conspiracy theory that the moon isn’t real, it’s not a rumor if you never tell anyone.

他们未经验证。这是关键。如果我正在参加一次高中同学聚会，并且尝试传播有关Jeff和Tina刚生下婴儿的消息[1]，那么，如果Jeff和Tina将婴儿的照片发布到Facebook上，这并不是谣言。是的，它提供了很多信息，并且正在发行中，但是由于已经被证实是正确的，因此从技术上讲它不是谣言。

They are unverified. This is key. If I’m at a high school reunion, and I try to spread the news that Jeff and Tina just had a baby[1], that’s not a rumor if Jeff and Tina posted the baby’s picture to Facebook. Yes, it’s informative and in circulation, but since it’s been definitively verified as true, it’s not technically a rumor.

最后，谣言是“与工具相关的”。它们回答人们因重要性或因重要性而希望回答的问题。如果有传言说您的办公室要裁员，那将起到重要作用，因为这些信息会影响您的生活！有些人将谣言传播为“集体感官活动”，因为它们可以帮助人们理解模棱两可的情况。

Finally, rumors are “instrumentally relevant.” They answer questions that people want answered because they feel important or significant. If there’s a rumor that your office is laying people off, that’s instrumentally relevant because that information impacts your life! Some have called rumor spreading a “group sensemaking activity” because they serve to help people understand an ambiguous situation.

*如果您对谣言与“八卦” [2]和“城市传说”有何不同感兴趣，请参阅前两个脚注！

*If you’re interested in how rumors are different from “gossip” [2] and “urban legends,”[3] see the previous two footnotes!

2、人们为何散布谣言的心理学分析

The Psychology of Why People Spread Rumors

如果您一直在关注，则谣言的主要功能是弄清一些尚不清楚的内容。谣言有助于解释这个令人困惑的世界。人们之间的紧张关系令人恐惧和困惑。“为什么发生坏事？”

If you’ve been paying attention, the primary function of a rumor is to make sense of something that’s already unclear. Rumors help explain a confusing element of the world. In the soda rumor I opened with, the tensions between groups of people are scary and confusing. “Why are bad things happening?”

这种混乱为谣言打开了大门，人们可以坚持不懈，以使他们至少对世界为何以其目前的方式运转有所了解。

This confusion opens the door to rumors, which people can hold>some idea about why the world is working in the way that it is.

1947年，戈登·艾尔波特（GordonAllport）和里奥·邮差（Leo Postman）出版了《谣言心理学》一书。尽管在那个时期，谣言是社会心理学中一个非常热门的话题，但是，更好地研究谣言变得越来越困难。但是，在过去的几年中，人们对谣言的心理重新产生了兴趣。这里是对该研究发现的简要回顾。

In 1947, Gordon Allport and Leo Postman published the book, The Psychology of Rumor. Although rumors were a pretty hot topic in social psychology around that time, it got more and more difficult to study rumors well. In the last several years, however, there’s been a renewed interest in the psychology of rumor. Here’s a quick review of what that research has found.

大荔枝点评：认知上的不确定与困惑，情绪上的恐惧与焦虑为谣言提供了温床。

据笔者分析，人们散步谣言的原因大概有以下几种情况：

There are several reasons that the rumors spread by people as follows.

A. 人们在不确定的情况下散布谣言

People Spread Rumors When There’s Uncertainty

当我们还不完全了解世事如何或为什么发生的时候，谣言就开始散布了。如果您可以想象再次上初中，请想象如果有一天突然有一个同学停止上学会发生什么。那里存在很多不确定性，因此人们可能会散布谣言，以此来解释所发生的事情。实际上，1955年的一次现场实验就做到了这一点：研究人员策略性地在没有解释的情况下将一名学生从小学班级撤出。毫不奇怪，随着学生试图弄清情况，谣言开始泛滥。

It’s when we don’t already have a firm grasp>researchers strategically withdrew a student from a grade school class without explanation. Not surprisingly, rumors started to fly as students tried to make sense of the situation.

大荔枝点评：谣言就像武功，可以全凭想象力，比现实还真实。

B. 人们在感到焦虑时散布谣言

People Spread Rumors When They Feel Anxiety

通常，不确定性会滋生焦虑-我们希望对世界有清晰的认识，而当我们感到不确定时，我们会感到焦虑-焦虑本身与谣言传播有关。一些研究表明，焦虑症患者更容易散布谣言。

Oftentimes uncertainty breeds anxiety—we like to have a clear sense of the world, and we get anxious when we feel uncertainty—and anxiety.

另一个有趣的实验使一些学生对即将到来的面试感到特别焦虑。与对照组中较不焦虑的学生相比，那些感到更焦虑的学生更容易散布谣言。

Another fascinating experiment made some students feel especially anxious about an upcoming interview. The students who were made to feel more anxious spread rumors more quickly than the less anxious students in the control group.

研究还表明，“可怕的”谣言（即，将要发生坏事的传言）比“希望”的谣言（即，将要发生好事的传闻）传播得更多。无论是在网上散布谣言还是亲自散布谣言，都是如此。

Research has also shown that “dread” rumors (i.e., rumors that something bad is going to happen) spread more than “wish” rumors (i.e., rumors that something good is going to happen). This is the case both for rumors spread.

大荔枝点评：华人的焦虑是弥漫的，不论身处何方，都可以参与到谣言的发布与传播之中。作为发起者或传播者，要了解自己的情绪---你焦虑了吗？你恐惧了吗？这是考验EQ的时候来了---体察自己的情绪并控制自己的情绪及其对他人的影响。

C. 当信息很重要时，人们会散布谣言

People Spread Rumors When the Information is Important

尽管您可能不愿谈论有关您所工作的公司的传闻，但我可能不在乎。原因是它与我无关。另一方面，我很想谈论其他对我来说更重要的传闻。实际上，Allport和Postman于1947年制定的“谣言基本法则”是，散布谣言既取决于局势的模糊性，也取决于谣言的重要性。

As much as you might be dying to talk about the rumor you heard about the company you work for, I probably don’t care a ton. The reason is that it’s just not that relevant to me. I,>basic law of rumor” that they developed in 1947 was that spreading rumors depends>ambiguity of the situation and the importance of the rumor.

在整个研究中，当信息对他们更重要时，人们更有可能散布谣言。

Across a whole bunch of studies, people are more likely to spread rumors when the information is more important to them.

大荔枝点评：要提防那些浑水摸鱼、混淆视听的商业行为，他们很可能在浪费你的时间，也在制造焦虑与恐慌。

D. 人们在相信信息时散布谣言

People Spread Rumors When They Believe the Information

面对现实吧-如果您听到一个您觉得是完全荒谬的谣言，那么您就根本不会有动力去广泛传播。例如，一项研究调查了大学罢工期间谣言的传播情况。最终，被广泛传播的是人们觉得更为可信的谣言。

Let’s face it—if you hear a rumor that you think is completely ridiculous, you probably won’t find yourself>It was the rumors that were more believable that ended up spreading the most.

大荔枝点评：“好事不出门，丑闻传千里”。这些谣言将成为一些人永久的、信以为真的记忆---信息垃圾。

E. 人们传播谣言有助于他们的自我形象

People Spread Rumors When it Helps Their Self-Image

大量研究表明，人们常常想对自己感觉良好，但是人们做到这一点的一种方法是通过谣言传播。发生这种情况有两个原因。一种是散布谣言，将您定位为掌握世界动态的人。然后，人们可能会成为最了解情况的人。谣言传播可以提高自尊心的另一种方式是，当谣言是关于另一个群体的时候。其他研究表明，放下其他群体可以提高人们的自尊心。事实证明，很多谣言都是关于一个小组的“反对”小组。这些被称为“楔形谣言”，有助于加强群体间的差异。显然，通过提升自己的团队与其他竞争对手的竞争关系，这些可以增强自尊心。

Plenty of research has shown that people often want to feel good about themselves, but. Another way rumor spreading can boost self-esteem is when the rumor is about another group. Other research has shown that putting down other groups can boost people’s self-esteem. Lots of rumors, it turns out, are about a group’s “opposing” group. These have been called “wedge rumors” and serve to reinforce intergroup differences. Clearly, these can boost self-regard by elevating.

大荔枝点评：谣言是一种无形的动力，像抽大麻一样。对于有一些“信息灵通”人士，他们更倾向于捕风捉影，而且自我感觉良好。

F. 人们在传播谣言帮助他们提高社会地位时

People Spread Rumors When it Helps Their Social Status

这听起来可能是原因5，但有细微的差别。原因5是，当人们帮助传播谣言时，他们对自己的感觉会更好。不过，更重要的方面是，人们可以利用谣言来加强他们的社交联系。想要被一群人接受吗？传递一些有关其竞争对手的谣言。

This might sound like reason #5, but there’s a subtle difference. Reason #5 was that people feel better about themselves when they help spread rumors. There’s a little more to it, though, which is that people can use rumors to strengthen their social ties. Want to be accepted by a group? Pass along some rumors about their rival group.

这项研究的证据可以在研究中看到，根据人们告诉他们的对象，人们会说不同的谣言。具体来说，问题是人们是否会传闻某个学校团体排名下降的谣言，或者是否会传出该团体排名上升的谣言。

The evidence for this can be seen in studies where people tell different rumors depending>decreased or whether they’d pass along a rumor that the group’s ranking increased.

结果表明，这取决于谁会收到谣言。如果是这个小组的成员，人们更有可能散布关于他们的正面谣言。如果是某个竞争对手的成员，那么人们更有可能散布负面谣言。关键是人们会策略性地散布谣言，以赢得他人的尊重。

The results showed that it depended>part of that group, people were more likely to spread a positive rumor about them. If it was someone who was part of a rival group, then people were more likely to spread the negative rumor. The point is that people spread rumors strategically, to gain the respect of others.

大荔枝点评：信息是拿来沟通交流与分享的，谣言却还有更重要的功能，在大家还在困惑、焦虑与恐惧之中，来了一点解药---毒鸡汤，喝了还不死人。

Footnotes

[1] ↑Of course they did

[2]↑ Oh, hi. You’re interested enough to check out this particular footnote. Okay, when it comes to gossip, psychologists have noted that gossip is more like casual conversation about individual people. It’s mostly for amusement, reinforcing standards for “appropriate” behavior, or to exclude certain people from a group. Again, rumors by definition are unverified. Gossip could be totally verified, but it’s being spread for more social reasons—not in order to understand an important and confusing situation.

[3]↑ Whereas rumors are little isolated information statements, urban legends are more specifically stories, complete with settings and characters and plots. The end goal of an urban legend is to be a good story. A rumor is meant to lend understanding to an ambiguous situation.

http://socialpsychonline.com/2015/09/psychology-why-rumors-spread/

本文作者Andy Luttrell,  社会心理学博士

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