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Chicken tumours and fishy revenge: Evidence for emotional content bias in the cumulative recall of urban legends

Stubbersfield, J.; Tehrani, J.; Flynn, E.

Chicken tumours and fishy revenge: Evidence for emotional content bias in the cumulative recall of urban legends Thumbnail


Authors

J. Stubbersfield

E. Flynn



Abstract

This study used urban legends to examine the effects of a cognitive bias for content which evokes higher levels of emotion on cumulative recall. As with previous research into content biases, a linear transmission chain design was used. One-hundred and twenty participants, aged 16–52, were asked to read and then recall urban legends that provoked both high levels and low levels of emotion and were both positively and negatively valenced. The product of this recall was presented to the next participant in a chain of three generations. A significant effect of emotion level on transmission fidelity was found with high emotion legends being recalled with significantly greater accuracy than low emotion legends. The emotional valence of a legend was found not to have any effect on cumulative recall; thus emotional biases in recall go beyond disgust and can incorporate other emotions such as amusement, interest and surprise. This study is the first to examine an emotion bias in cultural transmission as a general phenomenon without focusing on the emotion of disgust.

Citation

Stubbersfield, J., Tehrani, J., & Flynn, E. (2017). Chicken tumours and fishy revenge: Evidence for emotional content bias in the cumulative recall of urban legends. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 17(1-2), 12-26. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685373-12342189

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Oct 13, 2015
Online Publication Date Feb 8, 2017
Publication Date Feb 8, 2017
Deposit Date Oct 15, 2015
Publicly Available Date Feb 8, 2019
Journal Journal of Cognition and Culture
Print ISSN 1567-7095
Electronic ISSN 1568-5373
Publisher Brill Academic Publishers
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 17
Issue 1-2
Pages 12-26
DOI https://doi.org/10.1163/15685373-12342189

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