The Rumor Chain Activity

Mr. Anthony asked for four volunteers and sent three of them out of the class. He read a story about a plane hijack, similar to a gossip, to the first volunteer. Then, the second volunteer was called in to hear the story from the first volunteer. This process repeated itself until the story was told to the fourth volunteer.

As the story was repeatedly told, there are three main changes occurring:

1. Leveling: simplifying material (some information was forgetting such as radioing Bangkok for help, the rebellion of angry passengers, People’s Revolutionary Army, the name of the pilot, and the arrest)

2. Sharpening: highlighting or overemphasizing some material (some information was always repeated such as the type of gun used and the microphone used to throw at the hijacker

3. Assimilation: changing details to better fit the subjects own background or knowledge—schemas (some information was changed into something else such as the number of pilots changed from 1 to 2, from the hijacker to the terrorist, from the cockpit to the pilot cabin)