The Watercooler Effect: An Indispensable Guide to Understanding and Harnessing the Power of Rumors

"A fresh look at informal communication, and how information spreads rapidly...An absorbing and compelling book." -Daniel J. Levitin, author of This Is Your Brain on Music and The World in Six Songs

"Nicholas DiFonzo is one of the world's experts on why rumors spread. If you've ever wondered where rumors come from or whether some new rumor is true, this book will fascinate you." - Chip Heath, coauthor of Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

During the 2008 presidential election, both campaigns sought to detect, decipher, and defuse a host of derogatory rumors. After Hurricane Katrina, rumors swirled about stranded residents shooting rescue workers. Tipping off the economic crisis, costly rumors crippled financial institutions as they flew through the stock market.

Pyschologist Nicholas DiFonzo has studied hearsay for more than fifteen years, and in this book he shows how the process that gave rise to these troubling rumors is fundamentally the same as a t te- -t te around the company watercooler. With The Watercooler Effect, you'll learn:

*how businesses or campaigns can control destructive rumors

*how to sort fact from fiction

*why a "no comment" response can be more detrimental than helpful

*how an organization can increase trust from within

*why rumors can actually become more truthful the more they spread

DiFonzo argues that rumors stem from our deeply rooted motivation to make sense of the world and are a window into both individual and group psychology. Using fascinating case studies and surprising research findings, The Watercooler Effect gives you the tools to find the truth behind the rumor.

Nicholas DiFonzo earned his Ph.D. in Social & Organizational Psychology from Temple University in 1994 where he was awarded the Marianthi Georgoudi Dissertation Award for philosophical and theoretical contributions to the field of Psychology. He is currently Professor of Psychology at Rochester Institute of Technology where he teaches Social Psychology, Industrial/Organizational Psychology, and Graduate Statistics. He is a member of numerous professional associations including the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, and the Society for Personality and Social Psychologists.