How do rumours spread? Are they harmful? How?
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Answer:
The rumor is propagated through the population by pair-wise contacts between spreaders and others in the population. Any spreader involved in a pair-wise meeting attempts to “infect” the other individual with the rumor. In the case this other individual is an ignorant, he or she becomes a spreader.
Rumours tend to spread through gossip. It's human tendency to lie and spread words around. Precisely, rumours are semi-truths and as the name suggests, they're mixed up of truth and people's theories. Some folks enjoy to spread rumours just for the thrill of it. Psychologically, it's already been proven that people find amusement in hearing what they actually want to hear so even if they have to distort the truth for it, they'll gladly do it. This is why a rumour spreads like forest fire because it's infrequent.
They are certainly harmful. Rumours, especially negative ones, if spread leave a huge impact on the person they're subjected to, and in some cases, may even lead to depression or even suicide. The most scary thing about rumours is that someone really close to you could be the root cause of spreading them. In other words, you being backstabbed by the one you share your deepest and dirtiest secrets with is more likely to have an even bigger impact than the consequences of those lies. This develops distrust among people and socially speaking, it's definitely not good for the society.