In wartime, soldiers usually betray the state of their nerves by the bitterness of their griping; civilians, by their readiness to believe rumors. At Syracuse University, Psychologist Floyd H. Allport tried twelve current rumors about rationing on a cross section of 537 Syracuse citizens. Results:
¶ One citizen in four believed, partly or fully, at least one of the rumors, though all were false.
¶ Most widely believed (by 45%) was a rumor that a prominent Government official has three cars and a large underground tank filled with gasoline for his personal use. Another (believed by 13%): that producers’ storage tanks are so full that tankers are dumping gasoline at sea.
¶ Most prone to believe rumors were mechanics, clerks, salesmen, housewives, oldsters, fault finders, people who objected to rationing, anti-New Dealers. People who had relatives or close friends in combat overseas took less stock in rumors than those making smaller sacrifices.
¶ Men believed more rumors than women, probably because 1) they were generally more hostile to rationing, 2) they heard more rumors.
¶ Chief reasons that predispose an individual to listen to rumors, concluded Allport, are 1) frustration, 2) a guilty conscience, 3) simple love of a good story.
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