Activity 5 - Rumor Chain Activity

In this activity Mr. Anthony tells Pang a story about a passenger hijacking an airplane. Then Pang retells the story to Maytee, and Maytee to Daniel.

The demonstration shows us examples of leveling, sharpening, and assimilation.

Leveling is simplifying materials, we can see this as the story is retold, and the shorter it goes. This can happen because the person forgets minor details, or sometimes eliminate the details because they don’t think it is important.

Sharpening is highlighting or over emphasizing some materials. In this case, the spec of the machine gun came across the three people.

Assimilation is changing details to better put the subjects own background or knowledge (schema.) For example the pilot in this story is female, and the Stuart of the plane is male. As Maytee retells the story to Daniel, he unconsciously said the pilot is male and change Stuart to an air hostess. Because most pilots are male and flight attendants are air hostess, we change the gender of people in the story to fit with the teller’s schema.

You can see how a story can dramatically change between 3 people. So I guess we don’t have to be over excited when someone gossips or heard rumors because it is likely to be painted all over.