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THE WATERCOOLER EFFECT:
A Psychologist Explores the Extraordinary Power of Rumors
By Nicholas DiFonzo
304 pp. Penguin Group $24.95
Reviewed by Ruth Douillette
What better time to publish a book about rumor than during a presidential election when rumors are raging? Call them hearsay, propaganda, or speculation, be they truths or outright lies, rumors are as ubiquitous as a virus, and spread just as quickly. If rumor were the common cold, we’d all be sniffling. Sadly, we’re all infected—and we all infect others, intentionally or not.
Nicholas DiFonzo’s The Watercooler Effect begins at the proverbial drinking fountain, the symbolic source of rumors, which arise anywhere mouths meet ears, or eyes meet the printed word.
DiFonzo is not new to his subject, having studied hearsay for more than fifteen years. A professor of psychology at the Rochester Institute of Technology, he has written a number of scholarly articles on rumor, as well as co-authoring the book Rumor Psychology.
He sets about to answer the many questions that he poses throughout the book, beginning with: “Why are rumors such a regular part of people’s experience? What is it about being human that sets the stage for rumor activity?” Why, in other words, do we catch and spread rumors? And what can we do about it?
He does answer those questions, although I found it frustrating to read to page 38 before he finally says, “Let’s begin by defining our term.”
“Rumors,” DiFonzo writes, “are unverified information statements that circulate about topics that people perceive as important; arise in situations of ambiguity, threat, or potential threat; and are used by people attempting to make sense or to manage risk.”
In a muddy chapter aptly but ironically titled “It’s Clear That It’s Unclear,” DiFonzo explains, “The fact that rumor is unverified, means that it is not supported, buttressed, checked, or authenticated.”
He goes on to say that a verified statement might not be true, either, but at least there is a source that stands behind the statement, true or not. “True means that the information corresponds with objective reality, while verified means that someone vouches for its correspondence with objective reality. News is typically— though not always— verified; rumor is not.” Clearly unclear?
It actually is clear enough if you take the time to parse his explanation, and the distinction between unverified or verified and true or not is necessary to understand. Once the groundwork is laid, DiFonzo tells us why humans are rumor-mongers, why we are uncomfortable refuting rumors and what might happen when we do, why we are more likely to spread rumors about those we don’t like: it has something to do with our unbecoming willingness to believe the worst of such people. Sadly, DiFonzo says, it only takes minimal belief in a rumor to pass it on.
He provides anecdotes to support his research. Remember the false rumor that if you flashed your high beams at an oncoming car, it could be perceived as a gang signal that would lead to a chase ending in your death? Foolish sounding? Maybe. But better to be safe than sorry is the mindset that drove this rumor nationwide. And then there is the human tendency to trust. “There is much evidence that people can be quite gullible,” DiFonzo says. Think Saddam Hussein and weapons of mass destruction, a rumor DiFonzo says that was initiated by Hussein himself.
“People who believe conspiracies and secret plots tend to exhibit lower levels of trust and feel more alienated and powerless than those who are more skeptical,” he writes.
He cites examples of rumors and how they took root, such as a rumor that Proctor and Gamble was involved in Satan worship (false), and a rumor that the government was spraying contraceptive dust in plane contrails to limit population growth (false), among others.
To bring the discussion more current than DiFonzo was able with his September publication date, think of the rumors that swirled recently around Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin and her youngest child, a late life baby with Down’s syndrome. Why would a woman have a fifth baby so late in life? Must be her 17-year-old’s daughter’s baby, right? Wrong. Rumors are first and foremost a human attempt to make sense of something, says DiFonzo.
DiFonzo concludes, “What does it mean to understand rumors? It means appreciating how powerful rumors can be, and how they contribute to or cause many outcomes. It means being aware of the profoundly social processes involved in making sense of our world— for good and for bad. It means understanding the truth-seeking, social, propagandistic, self-serving, or artistic desires that can lay — and lie— beneath rumor discussions.”
My mother often told me, “If you can’t say something nice about someone, say nothing at all,” and lord knows, I tried. Little did I know until DiFonzo held a mirror to my face that I was taking part in “a fundamental phenomenon of social beings.” Throughout the book he urges similar caution about checking facts before repeating hearsay. Wise advice from a man who has studied the ugly fallout of rumors for years.
If nothing else, this book will encourage you to stop and question what you hear, rather than jump to conclusions and spread something that may, in fact, change the course of events as some rumors have. But along with this basic restraint you’ll gain a deeper understanding of just how to navigate what DiFonzo calls the “soupy rumor fog” in which we exist.
Ruth Douillette retired after 35 years as a middle school teacher, and now freelances as a writer and photographer.
Her essays have been published in the Christian Science Monitor, Cup of Comfort, Chicken Soup for the Soul, and
Under Our Skin, an anthology about breast cancer. Her photography has been featured in flashquake's gallery of art. Ruth
is a member of the Internet Writing Workshop where she’s an administrator for the Practice group. For a sample of her writing
and photography, visit Upstream and Down~.
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