The Rumor Chain Activity

Today in class, there was an activity in which we need four volunteers. We started off when Mr. Anthony told a story to the first volunteer and he had to pass it on to the next one, and so on. As a volunteer passed on the story to another one, the class closely observed how the story is changing. Some part of the story has stayed, some has been lost, some has never been mentioned since the first volunteer, etc. And through this activity we reckon three mechanisms:

Levelling: Simplifying materials
There’re a lot of details that have been lost during the volunteers passing on the story. For example, the “hijacker”, the radioed back to Bangkok International Airport, and so on.

Sharpening: highlighting or overemphasizing some materials
Some information are distinct, therefore we are able to remember and to pass on the right details. For example, the pilot throwing the microphone at the hijacker, and the kind of the gun that the hijacker was carrying (magnum), etc.

Assimilation: changing details to better pit the subjects own background or knowledge (schemas)
We change the details into something more familiar to ourselves. The first volunteer changed from the “hijacker” to a “terrorist”. They generalize the information they receive and change it to something else. A good example would be how they change the cockpit into a “pilot cabin”.