Most of the books listed below deal with how information is transmitted and how group decision making can bias what people in groups come to believe. A traditional topic in this area is how groups legitimate the validity of beliefs.
Brunvand, Jan Harold. The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings.
Norton, 1981. The classic treatment of urban legends, myths (often humorous, always with a lesson) that circulate throughout communities and whole countries. For additional documentation check the same author's The Choking Doberman and Other "New" Urban Legends, Norton, 1984.Bulgatz, Joseph. Ponzi Schemes, Invaders from Mars & More Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. (*) Harmony Books, 1992. In the spirit of Charles Mackay=s Extraordinary Delusions and the Madness of Crowds originally published in 1841 (and still readily available in various reprinted versions), Bulgatz examines a number of relatively silly ideas that have been widely accepted and collective phenomena varying from musical madness (e.g., Beatlemania) through soccer riots and lottery mania.
Cantril, Hadley. The Invasion from Mars. Princeton University Press, 1940 [reprinted by Harper, 1966 (*)]. On October 30, 1938 Orson Wells broadcast "The Invasion from Mars", a science fiction classic by H.G. Wells. It created panics, especially in New Jersey where the Martians supposedly landed although there have been recent criticisms that Cantril over-stated the magnitude of the panics and the extent to which the broadcast was widely believed. In any event, the phenomenon was fascinating although the psychology offered in this book is now somewhat dated.
Cialdini, Robert. Influence: The New Psychology of Modern Persuasion (3rd Edition) (*) Scott Foresman, 1993. A classic social psychological account of persuasion strategies. Both accurate and highly readable.
Festinger, Leon, Riecken, Henry W., & Schachter, Stanley. When Prophecy Fails.(*) Harper Torchbooks, 1956. This is a classic description of how a group that predicted the end of the world responded when their prediction was proved false.
Janis, Irving L. Groupthink: Psychological Studies of Policy Decisions and Fiascoes. (2nd edition). (*) Houghton Mifflin, 1982. An influential analysis of foreign policy decisions in terms of social influence processes within groups. Janis argues that a condition he calls groupthink retards effective decision making in all groups.
Kapferer, Jean-Noel. Rumors: Uses, Interpretations, Images. Transaction Publishers, 1990. A clear, modern treatment.
Rosnow, Ralph L. & Fine, Gary Alan. Rumor and Gossip: The Social Psychology of Hearsay (*). Elsevier, 1976. A useful and somewhat simplified review of the topic of rumor.
Shibutani, Tamotsu. Improvised News: A Sociological Study of Rumor. (*) Bobbs-Merrill, 1966. The classic treatment suggesting that rumor is a way that people give focus to their anxieties and meaning to the world around them.
Toch, Hans. The Social Psychology of Social Movements. Bobbs-Merrill, 1965. A reasonable attempt to examine social movements (cults, political movements, etc.) within a common framework. Somewhat dated by now but still highly readable.
Turner, Patricia A. I Heard It Through the Grapevine: Rumor in African-American Culture. (*) University of California Press, 1993. Urban legends in the black community.
Turner, R.H., & Killian, L.M. Collective Behavior. (3rd Edition). Prentice-Hall, 1987. This is the classic sociological account of rumors, social movements, panics, and other collective enterprises.