Ask Professor Nick

Gossip is Good, Even in the Lab

The primary functions of gossip are to inform, influence, entertain, enhance friendship, reinforce moral standards, and help in making decisions. Gossip helps us to understand our own abilities, shortcomings, and problems, and sets parameters for our behavior… continued…

Add commentApril 19th, 2010

Caltech Earthquake Rumor Shakes Twittersphere

For several days, a rumor has been spreading wildly over the internet, compliments of Twitter and Facebook. It started with a tweet that claimed Caltech was sending employees and students home because seismologists were predicting a major earthquake was about to hit the Southland… continued…

Add commentApril 13th, 2010

TwitterGlitter.com | Celeb Death Rumors Catch Fire Online

”Just hearing about celebrities dying makes it seem more probable,” says Nicholas DiFonzo, author of “The Watercooler Effect” and a psychology professor at Rochester Institute of Technology. ”So [the rumors] tend to occur in an… continued…

Add commentFebruary 2nd, 2010

Expert on Rumors Offers his Advice | North Dakota Business Watch

Nicholas DiFonzo, psychology professor at Rochester Institute of Technology, has studied rumors, hearsay and gossip since 1992. DiFonzo is currently leading a project funded by the National Science Foundation to study how rumors spread… continued…

Add commentFebruary 1st, 2010

Mind Matters: Gossip in the Lab | Proceed with Caution

“Gossip has a bad reputation, which, for the most part, is well-deserved,” says Nicholas DiFonzo, a psychologist at the Rochester Institute of Technology in… continued…

Add commentJanuary 29th, 2010

In the Books | Off to the Printers V « 800 CEO Read Daily Blog

In The Watercooler Effect, Nicholas DiFonzo explains how stories, in the form of gossip and rumors, can take flight even in the midst of contradicting data. DiFonzo, like all authors in the field of human behavior, offers solutions to… continued…

Add commentDecember 30th, 2009

When Gossip Is Good | The Social Value of Tiger’s Transgressions

Is all this gossip about Tiger Woods just useless prattle, or worse? Friday, he said he’s taking an “indefinite break” from golf and spending his time “being a better husband, father and person,” but don’t we have anything better to do with our time? Or is there something about all the sordid chatter that has a redeeming purpose?

Gossip has a bad reputation, and deservedly so. Despite its guilty pleasures, gossip is often meant to hurt people. It can be used to exclude, slander, or attack others… continued…

Add commentDecember 19th, 2009

Rumors And How to Manage Them

Did you know that the human mind can actually lead you to remember a false statement as true by hearing that it’s false? With the fast-paced lives we all lead, that oddly makes sense to me.

I recently learned of Nick DiFonzo, Professor of Psychology at Rochester Institute of Technology, one of the leading experts on rumor research… continued…

Add commentOctober 13th, 2009

Death by Cliff Plunge, With a Push From Twitter

Nicholas DiFonzo, a professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology who studies the psychology of rumors, said that the mass confusion over Mr. Jackson’s sudden death probably left people craving… continued…

Add commentJuly 25th, 2009

SURVEY: Few People Believed Campaign Rumors about Obama, McCain

Garrett and James N. Danziger, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, commissioned a representative national telephone survey of 600 Americans to learn continued…

Add commentFebruary 9th, 2009