Hlustum við meira á slúður en rök ?

Fann þessa frétt  ( Er slúðrið í genunum )  frá mbl.is frá 2002 þegar ég leitaði að greininni sem var í Mogganun í dag um að slúðrið virðist yfirsterkari en rök og eigin þekkingu. 

Hér er grein úr NY Times og önnur úr daily Telegraph sem fara ofan í saumanna á því sem frétt Moggans tæpti. Moggin vitnaði í tilteknum vísndamann, og þá var ekki erfitt að afla sér frekari vitneskju í gegnum leitarvél ( news.google.com) 

Facts Prove No Match for Gossip, It Seems

"Now, you might think the gossip mattered just in borderline cases â€" when the partner had a mixed record of generosity, and the donor welcomed outside guidance in making a tough decision. But the gossip had an impact in other situations, too. Even when a player saw that his partner had a record of consistent meanness, he could be swayed by positive gossip to reward the partner anyway. Or withhold help from a perfectly nice partner just on the basis of malicious buzz."

Gossip can influence our opinions

"It seems the old adage is true: mud sticks. So say scientists who discovered that gossip influences our opinions of people, even when we know it is untrue.

They learned the power of tittle-tattle in a test of 126 students, who played a game in which they could either co-operate with each other or cheat on each other.

Between each round, they could spread rumours about the behaviour of rivals.

The researchers found that the gossip had a "strong influence" on how the players reacted to each other, even if it disagreed with the evidence of their own eyes.

Suggestions that someone was a cheater stuck, even if the players had never seen that person misbehave."

 

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