RUMORS AND THEIR MECHANICS IN THE YEARS OF WAR AND REVOLUTION: COGNITIVE MODELS, OSTENSIVE REACTIONS, AND SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECIES (1914–1917)

Rumors performed important socio-psychological functions in the village and the city during political and information crises connected with World War I and the Russian Revolution. Peasant rumors reconstructed the logic of the beginning of the war in terms of archetypal images and folkloric cognitive-interpretation models. Urban rumors were more rational but were based on science fiction and spy detective plots. As the conflict between the authorities and society intensified and mutual trust decreased, urban rumors became increasingly irrationalized. Provoking intense reactions, rumors formed information bubbles as alternative realities in which representatives of the government and public organizations lived. In accordance with the mechanics of self-fulfilling prophecies, rumors contributed to the realization of false predictions and scenarios, one of which resulted in the Russian Revolution. The further course of the Russian Revolution also reveals the synergetic mechanics of selffulfilling rumors, which demonstrates the significance of spontaneous processes.