Understanding Rumor Sharing Behavior During COVID-19: The Dominant Motivation and the Potential Consequences for Life Satisfaction

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, rumors were shared widely and quickly, leading to unfortunate consequences. To explore the dominant motivation underlying such rumor sharing behavior and the potential consequences for sharers’ life satisfaction, two studies were conducted. Study 1 was based on representative popular rumors that circulated throughout Chinese society during the pandemic to examine the dominant motivation underlying rumor sharing behavior. Study 2 employed a longitudinal design to further test the dominant motivation underlying rumor sharing behavior and its effects on life satisfaction. The results of these two studies generally supported our hypotheses that people chose to share rumors during the pandemic mainly for the purpose of fact-finding. Regarding the effects of rumor sharing behavior on life satisfaction, although sharing wish rumors (i.e., rumors expressing hopes) had no effect on sharers’ life satisfaction, sharing dread rumors (i.e., rumors reflecting fears) and aggression rumors (i.e., rumors implying aggression and hatred) reduced sharers’ life satisfaction. This research lends support to the integrative model of rumor and provides practical implications for mitigating the spread of rumors.

Keywords:

• Rumor sharing behavior
• motivation
• life satisfaction
• COVID-19

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethics approval

All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards, and were approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Faculty of Psychology at the first author’s institute.

Consent to participate

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Availability of data and code

The data and code are available in the Mendeley Data repository [https://doi.org/10.17632/ctdzyt6v6v.2].

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant Number 71971028]; National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant Number 72271031].

Notes on contributors

Shuting Yang

Shuting Yang is currently pursuing her PhD degree in social psychology at faculty of psychology, Beijing Normal University. Her current research interests include decision making and rumor psychology.

Zhenzhen Liu

Zhenzhen Liu is currently pursuing her PhD degree in social psychology at faculty of psychology, Beijing Normal University. Her current research interests include decision making and income inequality.

Xinying Jiang

Xinying Jiang is currently pursuing her master degree in social psychology at faculty of psychology, Beijing Normal University. Her current research interests include time scarcity and judicial decisions.

Xiaomin Sun

Xiaomin Sun is currently a professor at faculty of psychology, Beijing Normal University. Her current research interests include risk decisions, consumption decisions, judicial decisions and income inequality.

Yiqin Lin is currently pursuing her PhD degree in social psychology at faculty of psychology, Beijing Normal University. Her current research interests include consumption decisions and cognitive neuroscience.

Yiqin Lin

Xiaomin Sun is currently a professor at faculty of psychology, Beijing Normal University. Her current research interests include risk decisions, consumption decisions, judicial decisions and income inequality.

Yiqin Lin is currently pursuing her PhD degree in social psychology at faculty of psychology, Beijing Normal University. Her current research interests include consumption decisions and cognitive neuroscience.

Yue Yuan

Yue Yuan is currently pursuing her PhD degree in social psychology at faculty of psychology, Beijing Normal University. Her current research interests include consumption decisions and time scarcity.

Yiming Zhu

Yiming Zhu is currently pursuing his PhD degree in Hokkaido University. He received his master degree from faculty of psychology, Beijing Normal University. His current research interests include consumption decisions and social mobility.

Qi Zhao

Qi Zhao is currently pursuing his PhD degree in Vrije University Amsterdam. He received his master degree from faculty of psychology, Beijing Normal University. His current research interests include income inequality and political psychology.

Yueqin Hu

Yueqin Hu is currently a professor at faculty of psychology, Beijing Normal University. Her current research interests include quantitative psychology and health psychology.

Tianxin Wang

Tianxin Wang is currently pursuing her master degree in School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Science, The University of Edinburgh. Her current research interests include intimate relationship.