It happened to a friend of a friend: inaccurate source reporting in rumour diffusion - Archive ouverte HAL Accéder directement au contenu
Article Dans Une Revue Evolutionary Human Sciences Année : 2020

It happened to a friend of a friend: inaccurate source reporting in rumour diffusion

Sacha Altay
Nicolas Claidière
Hugo Mercier

Résumé

People often attribute rumours to an individual in a knowledgeable position two steps removed from them (a credible friend of a friend), such as 'my friend's father, who's a cop, told me about a serial killer in town'. Little is known about the influence of such attributions on rumour propagation, or how they are maintained when the rumour is transmitted. In four studies (N = 1824) participants exposed to a rumour and asked to transmit it overwhelmingly attributed it either to a credible friend of a friend, or to a generic friend (e.g. 'a friend told me about a serial killer in town'). In both cases, participants engaged in source shortening: e.g. when told by a friend that 'a friend told me …' they shared the rumour as coming from 'a friend' instead of 'a friend of friend'. Source shortening and reliance on credible sources boosted rumour propagation by increasing the rumours' perceived plausibility and participants' willingness to share them. Models show that, in linear transmission chains, the generic friend attribution dominates, but that allowing each individual to be exposed to the rumour from several sources enables the maintenance of the credible friend of a friend attribution.
Fichier principal
Vignette du fichier
it-happened-to-a-friend-of-a-friend-inaccurate-source-reporting-in-rumour-diffusion.pdf (506.99 Ko) Télécharger le fichier
Origine : Fichiers éditeurs autorisés sur une archive ouverte

Dates et versions

hal-03064955 , version 1 (14-12-2020)

Identifiants

Citer

Sacha Altay, Nicolas Claidière, Hugo Mercier. It happened to a friend of a friend: inaccurate source reporting in rumour diffusion. Evolutionary Human Sciences, 2020, 2, ⟨10.1017/ehs.2020.53⟩. ⟨hal-03064955⟩
25 Consultations
49 Téléchargements

Altmetric

Partager

Gmail Facebook X LinkedIn More