Expect the Unexpected? Testing for Minimally Counterintuitive (MCI) Bias in the Transmission of Contemporary Legends: A Computational Phylogenetic Approach

In this study, we use computational methods for analyzing cultural transmission to examine the role of cognitive selection pressures on the evolution of narratives, the first use of computational phylogenetic analysis in the study of contemporary legends. It has been suggested that a number of biases in transmission may alter the content and structure of narrative so as to maximize how transmittable it is. One bias that has attracted much attention is Boyer’s minimally counterintuitive (MCI) bias, which suggests that a cognitively optimal number of counterintuitive concepts increase the salience and, therefore, the transmission of a narrative. Previous research has used traditional folklore and religious texts to examine this bias and a cognitively optimum number of 1–2 or 2–3 counterintuitive concepts has been suggested. The present research uses the legend of “Bloody Mary,” a contemporary (or urban) legend with MCI elements in a computational phylogenetic analysis to examine the influence of MCI on cultural transmission and evolution. Counterintuitive and intuitive concepts were found to be equally stable in transmission, suggesting that MCI bias may function on the narrative as a whole, rather than individual concepts within it

An exploration of the tension between tradition and innovation.

This chapter will present an exploration of the tension between tradition and innovation. Terms and meanings will first be defined and delineated. Tradition will be delineated by way of a consideration of folk culture in extremis, and innovation by way of a personological understanding of creativity, again in extremis. The exploration will take place within a framework expounded by folklorist Bausinger in ‘Folk culture in a world of technology’ (Bausinger, 1961). By revisiting his concepts, and utilising his notions of spatial expansion, temporal expansion and social expansion as lenses, I will reconsider folk culture, and the relationships it has with multi-dimensional topological theories of creativity in a world of digital technology. Several tensions extant in the concept of culture have been posited by previous writers, such as Elliot (1948), Dundes (Dundes, 2002), and Dewey (Dewey, 1938). These tensions are often seen as dichotomies, divisions or contrasts, which are represented as being opposed or entirely different, as a binary construct. Such constructs might serve the creative practitioner better if reframed instead as spectrums of tension. These two extremes, existing in a state of equilibrium, might benefit the creative practitioner, creative act and culture and society more broadly. Exploring these tensions, will make help contribute to the themes and discourses of creativity and culture. Reconsidering each expansion will in turn present new perspectives and ways forward, through the examination of the supposed tensions, and the values and ideas that each expansion deals with. The chapter concludes with thoughts on what the ramifications of these tensions might be; and on the implications for future creative and traditional practice: I am mindful here of the purpose of Bausinger’s original concepts concerned with uncovering new folkloric perspectives and potential standpoints. The chapter therefore has three aims, first to propose an alternative way of being, and knowing the world, that suggests by connecting with, or knowing the past and our cultural traditions, practitioners, professionals or workers can engage in a more personally and socially meaningful creative practice in the digital world. A secondary aim is to reflect upon how this standpoint promotes identity formation and broader social cohesion. And, finally how it might in itself represent a folk realpolitik