On Rumours: How Falsehoods Spread, Why We Believe Them, What Can Be Done
Author: Sunstein Cass R.
Why do people believe rumours – even when they are false, destructive or bizarre?
Why do some groups accept a rumour, while others dismiss it completely?
What can we do to protect ourselves against rumours?
Cass Sunstein explores the human propensity for gossip and storytelling, and discusses how our fears and hopes can work against common sense. He also investigates the way that the internet can entrench our false beliefs even deeper, and how the wish to conform, our natural biases and even our basic emotions can cause us to fall for untrue accounts - whether libellous celebrity stories or strange conspiracy theories that reach around the world.
'THOUGHT-PROVOKING . . . EXTREMELY RELEVANT'
Scotsman
'MAKES FOR SOME UNCOMFORTABLE READING'
Telegraph
'GIVES LONG SHRIFT TO LOOSE TALK'
The Times Higher Education Supplement
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