Influence of emotional content and perceived relevance on spread of urban legends: a pilot study

This study examined factors thought to be associated with the spread of urban legends. 62 participants (84% female, 65% white, M age = 22 yr.) read 15 urban legends, 3 of which had a stated local component, and rated various characteristics of each legend, including how scary it was, how believable it was, and how likely the participants would be to tell it to someone else. As predicted, both a high fear rating and a high believability rating were positively correlated with the reported intent to tell (rho60 = .41, p < .0001 and rho60 = .67, p < .02, respectively). There was also a significant positive correlation between familiarity and intent to tell (rho60 = .22, p < .0001); however, presence of a local connection was not strongly correlated with intent to tell. It is possible that the local stories were less believable because they all involved ghosts.