从社会心理学角度看,流言是相互传播关于现实社会问题的某种不确切的消息。这种传播一般是口头的、非形式化的和非官方的。流言和谣言有一定的区别,虽然二者都是广泛传播不确切的消息,但是谣言一般怀有恶意,以故意的扰乱或破坏为目的,流言则往往由无意的讹传所致。虽然流言的后果不一定有害,但是,大多会在人们的心理上产生恶劣的影响,干扰人们的精神生活和社会生活,在特殊时期,更会不利于人们应付重大恶性事件和灾难。 From the social psychology point of view, gossip is some kind of inaccurate news about the reality of social issues. This spread is generally verbal, informal and unofficial. There are some differences between rumors and rumors. Although both are widely disseminated inaccurate information, rumors are generally malicious and they are intended to cause disruption or vandalism. Rumors are often caused by unintentional remarks. Although the consequences of rumors are not necessarily harmful, most of them will have bad influence on people’s psychology and interfere with people’s spiritual life and social life. In special times, they will not help people to cope with major vicious incidents and disasters.