European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 15, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse By Daniel Goleman a new York times d id you hear. This woman trying on a coat in a department store put her hand in the pocket and was bitten by a Snake. See the coat had been made in Taiwan where a Viper Laid eggs in the pocket. The . / of and then a Man in new York City on business went to a bar for a drink and woke up the next morning in Central Park. Feeling so terrible that he went to the a a Hospital. The doctor found a Long neat scar up the Man s Back someone had removed one of the Many a kidneys and neatly sewn him up again. And did you hear that you should t swim in Public swimming pools because you can get aids from them it happened to a Little girl in Pittsburgh. Or maybe it was a Little boy in St. Louis. None of this is True of course. But each. Of these stories is circulating As a Rumor. They Are specimens from the collection of or. Allan j. Kimmel a psychologist at Fitchburg state College in Fitchburg Mas who is among scientists studying of rumours in order to find better ways to control them. The results suggest rumours Are a kind of opportunistic information virus thriving because of their ability to create the very anxieties that make them spread and to mutate to fit new situations some rumours have survived for centuries simply changing their targets As they travelled. Around the Globe. A a a a a a a a a the need for effective ways to combat rumours is becoming Ever More apparent. Aids rumours for instance heighten anxieties while making the work of Public More difficult. Racial tensions and riots Are almost always fed by rumours businesses targeted by rumours have lost millions of dollars in sales. The new research highlights the role of. Anxiety in giving life to rumours. For instance people Are much More Likely to pass on a Rumor that is about something they Are already anxious about studies have found. Repeating serves to reassure people they understand something that troubles and perplexes them psychologists say a a a a. A a a a a a. A Quot a Rumor is a kind of hypothesis a speculation that helps people make sense of a chaotic reality or gives them a Small sense of control in a threatening world Quot a a said or. Ralph Rosnow a psychologist at readers action line .4a stopping a Mill is always a Tough. Grind Temple University who wrote an article. 1 reviewing findings on rumours in the. American psychologist. A. A from the perspective of the people who hear rumours and pass them on. Rumours Are news. And while rumours Are a topic of emotional a a a a. Importance to the Teller gossip need not. Be. Quot gossip is Small talk a kind of a a a a a a a. Intellectual chewing gum while rumours have the feel of something of great substance a Quot said Rosnow. While rumours Are naturally elusive a researchers have been resourceful in h finding methods to study them. Some. Studies seize on the Opportunity provided by events that spawn rumours such ass amps Susan Harris. Wars murders or other disturbing events. In this approach researchers Survey. People to find what have heard if they believed them or passed. Them on and so on. A similar approach has been used with rumours about companies. When the target is a business people who hear frequently Call the or to ask if it could be True. Such. Was the Case for instep once with . In the mid-1980s that Procter amp Gamble a was somehow involved in satanism. By interviewing people who hear such a. Rumor social scientists can learn what evidence people cite to support it plan an advertising Campaign to combat it and find out if the Campaign was effective. Quot you can track rumours As they travel. Across the country Quot said or. Fred Koenig a social psychologist at Tulane University who advises companies victimized by rumours. Quot that allows you to target your Quot Campaign against it to the locale where it is most a researchers sometimes also Start rumours in order to study them for instance in a study conducted by Rosnow confederates started a Rumor in College classes that students in another class had been caught smoking marijuana during a final exam., a a. A week later the students were asked if they had passed on and How sur of its truth they were. Not surprisingly. The More students believed the More Likely they were to have passed it on. In some of the most recent experiments researchers carefully manipulate the Way a rumours Are presented to More precisely weigh what makes people believe them or not. Athus in one study at Northwestern. A University that Mcdonald a hamburgers contained Worms was a accompanied by the information that Worms and Are considered a delicacy in some cultures. Quot one of the Aims of such studies is to see what kind of information Wilt Rumor. Koenig said. Much of current Rumor research focuses on the role of anxiety. In a direct test of How Peoples anxieties Lead them to pass on rumours Rosnow surveyed students several months 1986 murder of a student at the University of Pennsylvania. Quot some rumours such As that the woman was the target of a random attack. Increased Peoples sense of dread by suggesting that they themselves could. Have easily been the victim Quot Rosnow said. A a other rumours like one that a former Lover. Had killed her were More reassuring suggesting she could have been the target of the . The students on average had heard. Three to five rumours about the murder. No matter How Many rumours they had heard Rosnow found the students were far More Likely to pass on those that made the most anxious. ,. One motive for people to repeat rumours that frighten them is in the Hope of finding. That it is wrong,."in repeating something that makes you nervous to someone else you May learn some contrary fact that will Quot Calm you Quot Kimmel said. Quot on the other hand it can escalate your fears if the. Person you Tell it to believes a a the implicit messages of rumours give a them their emotional Power. Some of the most compelling rumours revolve around a Basic fears such As of disease or death. Thus that Elvis Presley or John f. Kennedy is alive and Well has As its subtext the message that it to defeat death. One of the most ancient of. Rumours still a alive and Well has been around for More than a Century that chinese restaurants. Serve up the missing dogs of a paper presented in May at the society for the study of contemporary legend a British researchers traced in a England to the earliest years of the British Empire and in America to the 1850s. Quot thrives because in China they do eat dogs Quot Koenig said. Quot but the same Rumor with a warning to watch your dog is now going around about ,. Vietnamese immigrants i Texas and a a a a a. Elsewhere about mexicans in Southern California and about. Native americans in t. To to. T Why no religious services in Spanish a i am part of the Spanish conv Unity in the Vogel Weh area. Most of us understand eng fish but no everyone. I have heard people asking Quot what is the priest talking about Quot others guard their embarrassment by staying Home,.evbn when they feel the need to go to Church a a. T a a a a a a. A a. A a a a if we adults Don t go to. Religious services How can we. Teach our children about religion since Kaiserslautern is such a Large military Community Why can t we get the service in Spanish we really need it. Amelia Rodriquez Kaiserslautern Germany a. Maj. Paula e. Kougeas chief Public affairs he 86th fighter vying Safe replies during the last five months the Catholic Community of Ramstein and Vogel Weh in sensitivity of the hispanic sub Community has provided \ a. A. A a a Posada a Spanish festival at christmastime including caroling and a party with a Pinata for . A a a a. A ,. A a mass in Spanish including a baptism during our annual Retreat. A a a a a two Cursi Ilos and an ult Reya. A a a a. . �.-�. A a Blessing in Spanish at our Quot teenagers encounter Christ Quot Camp out Retreat a a. A a. a recorded Spanish music occasionally at daily mass. A a Midnight mass and the special hymn for the preparation of the gifts a la Nita Nana. A a special mass to begin a quince Anarna a hispanic Quot renew Quot group. A Celebration of our of Guadalupe Day in addition we will soon be offering a regular mass in Spanish. Starting in june this will take place at 5 . On the third saturday of every month at lands Uhl army a regional medical Center a a the chaplains of Ramstein and Vogel Weh Are ready to continue and response to our hispanic Community. Concerned writers such As yourself will enable us to do so by volunteering for our Parish councils and. Our women a. youth groups. You who Are willing to conduct programs in Spanish Are the key to Success a a a a a a. to writers readers action line is the readers a a court of last. Resort. Striving to answer some of the questions about he overseas in a military environment or questions about policies and guidelines when other avenues for answers Are not readily available. If you have a question and Don t know where to turn for the answer write to readers action line a othe stars a and stripes Apo 09211-4211. Ail letters must be signed and preference will be Given to those seeking information of general interest to our readers. A a. A a. A a a Page 16 the stars and stripes saturday june 15, 1991 a
