El otro virus: rumores y chismes sobre la pandemia COVID-19. Una explicación cognitiva

Abstract

Parallel to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, another type of virus has spread: rumors about COVID-19 have circulated at the same speed. Why is this phenomenon important? The rumors have several physical or mental effects on people that assume them as accurate information, mainly generating fear and psychosis in the population; they can alter the social dynamics of a group and follow indications contrary to medical and scientific specifications. At the same time, it generates situations of discrimination and prejudices towards people identified as possible sources of contagion. This research seeks to explain the spread of these rumors in the health crisis derived from the pandemic of COVID-19. For this, the perspective of cognitive anthropology is used, focused on explaining why certain representations are more successful in their transmission and diffusion than other representations. The analysis shows that a good part of rumor's success is due not only to the existence of digital social networks that increase the possibility of transmitting information expeditiously but to hybridization of elements typical of rumors with gossip.