Corpses, Maggots, Poodles and Rats: Emotional Selection Operating in Three Phases of Cultural Transmission of Urban Legends

Abstract

PostprintThis is the accepted version of a paper published in Journal of Cognition and Culture. This paper has been peer-reviewed but does not include the final publisher proof-corrections or journal pagination. Citation for the original published paper (version of record):Eriksson, K., Coultas, J. (2014) Corpses, maggots, poodles and rats: Emotional selection operating in three phases of cultural transmission of urban legends. Journal of Cognition and Corpses, maggots, poodles and rats: Emotional selection operating in three phases of cultural transmission of urban legends AbstractIn one conception of cultural evolution, the evolutionary success of cultural units that are transmitted from individual to individual is determined by forces of cultural selection. Here we argue that it is helpful to distinguish between several distinct phases of the transmission process in which cultural selection can operate, such as a choose-to-receive phase, an encode-and-retrieve phase, and a choose-to-transmit phase.Here we focus on emotional selection in cultural transmission of urban legends, which has previously been shown to operate in the choose-to-transmit phase. In a series of experiments we studied serial transmission of stories based on urban legends manipulated to be either high or low on disgusting content. Results supported emotional selection operating in all three phases of cultural transmission. Thus, the prevalence of disgusting urban legends in North America may be explained by emotional selection through a multitude of pathways.Keywords: emotional selection; cultural transmission; disgust; emotion and memory; serial reproduction 3 Corpses, maggots, poodles and rats: Emotional selection operating in three phases of cultural transmission of urban legends Several authors have argued for a Darwinian approach to explaining prevalent culture, in which one focuses on which cultural items are more likely to survive (Dawkins, 1976;Dennett, 1995;Sperber, 1996;Boyer, 2001).1 Forces of cultural selection may include ecological factors but also details of the human psychology such as content biases (Sperber, 1996; Kelly, Machery, Mallon, Mason and Stich, 2006 (2001), which will be the focus of the present paper. Heath et al. (2001) proposed that the success in cultural evolution of stories such as urban legends, which are transmitted from individual to individual on a large scale, is to a considerable extent determined by the stories' ability to evoke widely shared emotions. These emotions may be both negative and positive.As a case study, Heath et al. focused on urban legends' ability to elicit disgust. Two main findings emerged.First, a study of web sites that document urban legends showed that legends with disgusting motifs were more likely to be spread across many web sites. Second, in an experiment where urban legends were manipulated with respect to their capacity to evoke the emotion of disgust, participants expressed greater willingness in passing along those stories that were more disgusting (controlling for...

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