|
 |
Welcome to ProfessorNick.com
Professor DiFonzo earned his Ph.D.
in Social & Organizational Psychology from Temple University in
1994 where he was awarded the Marianthi Georgoudi Dissertation Award
for philosophical and theoretical contributions to the field of Psychology.
He is currently Professor of Psychology at Rochester Institute of Technology
where he teaches Social Psychology, Industrial/Organizational Psychology,
and Graduate Statistics. He is a member of numerous professional associations
including the American Psychological Society, the Society for Personality
and Social Psychologists, and the Society for the Scientific Study of
Religion.
He has published over 35 articles,
book chapters, encyclopedia entries and technical reports pertaining
to the topic of rumor. His book, Rumor Psychology: Social & Organizational
Approaches (written with Prashant Bordia), was published by the
American Psychological Association and won the Gold Medal-2006 ForeWord
Magazine Book of the Year Award in the psychology category. His general
press book, The Watercooler Effect: A Psychologist Explores the Extraordinary
Power of Rumors, was released by Avery (Penguin) Press in September
of 2008, was released as a paperback in September of 2009, and a Spanish
translation (Rumorologia) was published by the South American
publisher, Ediciones B also in 2009 (a Korean version was also
published in 2009 and a Japanese translation is forthcoming). He has
been interviewed on National Public Radio
on numerous occasions, and routinely assists the press in the analysis
of rumor and gossip. He has given over 40 presentations and invited
addresses at academic conferences on rumor, as well as seminars and
lectures to business audiences on rumor and rumor management.
Dr. DiFonzo has studied how rumors
propagate through networks in social space and across time, the mechanisms
by which rumors become accurate or distorted, the effect of repeated
hearing of rumors on belief, motivations involved in rumor transmission,
processes involved in believing a rumor, how rumor is differentiated
from other forms of communication, the effects of hearing rumors and
rumor denials, psychological mechanisms by which rumors are effectively
refuted, how rumor processes are affected by organizational trust, and
how rumors influence social and economic behavior. He has pursued practical
applications of rumor theory including how harmful rumors may be most
effectively refuted.
In 2005 he received a major multi-year grant from the National Science Foundation ($755,546)
to investigate how rumors propagate through social networks over time.
He has also received funding from the Institute for Public Relations
to study corporate rumors, their effects, and how top corporate public
relations officers handle them. He organized and maintains an Internet
discussion group, Rumor-GossipResearch@listserver.rit.edu for
scholars interested in the topics of rumor and gossip. Dr. DiFonzo has
served as expert trial witness for corporations and government entities
on the topics involving derogatory workplace rumors, malicious product
rumors, and slanderous conspiracy rumors. More information about rumor
and Professor DiFonzo is available at his website: ProfessorNick.com
|
 
|
|
|
