Around the Watercooler

Exploring the psychology of rumors.
by Nicholas DiFonzo

To Rumor Is Human

By Nicholas DiFonzo on October 20, 2008 in Around the Watercooler

The Snopes family is a fictitious collection of characters from the novels of American author William Faulkner. The Snopes are a populous and pernicious lot—in true Faulkner style, they include arsonists, bigamists, con-men, extortionists, and usurers. Regularly consumed with revenge and driven by ambition, they are not a very pleasant set of relations. Read More

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • You may quote other posts using [quote] tags.

More information about formatting options

Subscribe to Around the Watercooler

Nicholas DiFonzo

Nicholas DiFonzo is Professor at Rochester Institute of Technology and author of The Watercooler Effect: A Psychologist Explores the Extraordinary Power of Rumors.

more...

Around the WatercoolerRecent Posts

Why we love them
Is gossip bad, good, or just plain ugly?
A historical example of a political gossip monger.
Can Gossip be Good for Us?
The pyschology of the 2008 election rumors.
More of Around the Watercooler blog

Current Issue

Are You with the Right Mate?

It is natural to wonder if your partner is the right one for you.