How rumors are born

Jean-Noël Kapferer
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Jean-Noël Kapferer: HEC Paris - Recherche - Hors Laboratoire - HEC Paris - Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales

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Abstract: This article deals with rumors. Rumors arise when information is scarce. In the exchange of information constituted by rumors are the principles that rule all forms of exchange. Information circulates because it has value, because it is worth its weight in gold. Many rumors stem from secrets that have been more or less intentionally leaked. The source of many rumors is troubling because rumors mobilize a group's attention. In the course of successive exchanges, the group tries to reconstruct the puzzle of scattered pieces gathered there and there. The fewer the pieces, the greater the role of the group's unconscious plays in their interpretation.

Keywords: RUMOR; GOSSIP; INTERPERSONAL communication; SECRECY; CONFIDENTIAL communications (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1992-07
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Published in Society, 1992, 29 (5), pp.52-60. ⟨10.1007/BF02697095⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00784127

DOI: 10.1007/BF02697095

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