Emotional Selection in Memes: The Case of Urban Legends

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers on the role of emotional selection, particularly disgust, in the propagation of urban legends and memes. It examines how emotional responses can influence the sharing of stories, alongside informational factors like truth and moral lessons.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Technical explanation, Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants propose that emotional selection, specifically disgust, plays a significant role in the willingness to share urban legends, as evidenced by various studies.
  • Study 1 indicates that controlling for truth, stronger disgust leads to a higher likelihood of story sharing.
  • Study 2 suggests that versions of legends that evoke greater disgust are preferred for sharing.
  • Study 3 finds that legends with more disgust motifs are more widely distributed on urban legend websites.
  • Some participants express amusement at the discussion, reflecting on the inherent human fascination with disgust.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on the significance of emotional selection in the context of urban legends, but the discussion does not resolve the broader implications or applications of these findings.

Contextual Notes

The discussion does not address potential limitations of the studies mentioned, such as the definitions of disgust or the specific contexts in which these urban legends are shared.

Who May Find This Useful

Readers interested in psychology, sociology, media studies, or the dynamics of information sharing may find this discussion relevant.

Ivan Seeking
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We explore how much memes like urban legends succeed based on informational selection (i.e., truth or a moral lesson) and emotional selection (i.e., the ability to evoke emotions like anger, fear, or disgust). We focus on disgust because it is the least intuitive form of emotional selection and its elicitors have been precisely described. In Study 1, controlling for informational factors like truth, people were more willing to pass along stories that elicited stronger disgust. Study 2 randomly sampled legends and created versions that varied in disgust; people preferred to pass along versions that produced the highest level of disgust. In Study 3, we coded legends for individual story motifs that produce disgust (e.g., ingestion of a contaminated substance); legends that contained more disgust motifs were distributed more widely on urban legend web sites. We discuss implications of emotional selection for the social marketplace of ideas.[continued]
http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/anthro/bec/papers/Heath_Emotional_Selection.pdf
 
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Very interesting Ivan, thanx! :biggrin:
 
You're welcome. :biggrin:


Funny, isn't it? We are all little boys at heart - the disgusting part anyway.
 
Mud Shark

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