How powerful is the rumor mill and why are rumors so easy to believe yet so difficult to quash? We’ll talk this hour with Psychologist Nicholas DiFonzo, whose new book is “The Watercooler Effect: A Psychologist Explores the Extraordinary Power of Rumors” (Avery,2008).

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Professor Nicholas DiFonzo, the author of “Water Cooler Effect” has his own explanation on why rumours are so popular with the American electorate at the moment… continued…

Here is a Time.com Q&A article I wrote this week covering a variety of rumor topics.

Here’s a review of The Watercooler Effect from Shelf Awareness

This week I posted three blogs on the Penguin site on the topic of Political Rumors in the US Presidential Election. Please check them out.

Wednesday, 9/17/08. John Pemble hosts The Exchange. His guest is author Nicholas DiFonzo, author of the book, The Watercooler Effect. They discuss how rumors occur, why people believe them, and the big effects that rumors can have on society.

Read my brief analysis of the 2008 Election rumors in this NY Post article (Sunday September 14, 2008).

Interview with Joy Cardin, Friday, 9/12/2008, 6:00 AM,

…easy to believe… tough to silence… After six, Joy Cardin and her guest takes a look at rumors… why we believe them… why we spread them… and how they affect our behavior.

Interview at Rochester Institute of Technology, August 2008, with Susan Galowicz and Michael Saffran.