A Review of the Sociological and Psychological Backgrounds and Causes of Rumor Diffusion and its Relationship with Security Crises (With an Emphasis on 2009 Sedition in Iran)

Rumors arise to fill individuals’ knowledge gaps in ambiguous, critical situations and cause social disruption. The purpose of the present study is to discover the sociological and psychological backgrounds and causes of rumor diffusion in communities and explore its relationship with security crises with an emphasis on 2008 sedition in Iran and in line with helping better management of rumors, particularly in critical situations. Using the descriptive-survey method, this paper has inspected the causes of rumor formation. According to the findings, fear, hatred, hope and aspiration, projection, curiosity, assurance, pleasing others, sexual drive and showing off are the psychological causes and mass confusion on a subject, being inclined to rumor acceptance, social conflict and social anxiety are considered the social backgrounds and causes of rumor formation and diffusion.