Typifying rumors in university students' everyday conversation

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to typify rumor talk in university students' everyday conversation. This study investigated the structure of rumor in conversation from the viewpoint of content attributes and functions. Study 1 found two types of rumor talk, "humor type" and "anxiety type", based on seven content attributes (humor, anxiety, certainty, importance, reliability, sharing of topic, and easiness of interpretation) and four functions (entertainment, spicing up, avoiding silence, and information supplement). "Humor type" was high humor and low certainty, and had an entertainment function. "Anxiety type" was low humor and high anxiety, and had an information supplement function. Study 2, which typified rumor talk based on three content attributes (humor, anxiety, and certainty), found a "daily type" and a "sensation-seeking type" in addition to the two types of study 1. "Daily type" was high certainty, and had an information supplement function. "Sensation-seeking type" was high humor, high anxiety, and low certainty.