Editing Urban legend (section)

==Relation to mythology==
The earliest term by which these narratives were known, "urban belief tales", highlights what was then thought of as a key property: their tellers regarded the stories as true accounts, and the device of the [[Friend of a friend|FOAF]] (acronym for "Friend of a Friend" invented by English writer and folklorist [[Rodney Dale]] in 1976) was a spurious but significant effort at authentication.<ref>Brunvand, p. 459</ref> The coinage leads in turn to the terms "FOAFlore" and "FOAFtale". While at least one classic legend, the "Death Car", has been shown to have some basis in fact,<ref>Richard Dorson. "American Folklore" University of Chicago Press, 1959, pp. 250–52.</ref> folklorists have an interest in debunking those narratives only to the degree that establishing non-factuality warrants the assumption that there must be some other reason why the tales are told, re-told and believed.<ref name="autogenerated1">Adam Brooke Davis."[http://missourifolkloresociety.truman.edu/Missouri%20Folklore%20Studies/devilsnight.htm Davis, Adam Brooke. "Devil's Night and Hallowe'en: The Linked Fates of Two Folk Festivals." ''Missouri Folklore Society Journal'' XXIV (2002) 69–82] {{webarchive |url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160305105514/http://missourifolkloresociety.truman.edu/Missouri%20Folklore%20Studies/devilsnight.htm |date= 2016-03-05 }}</ref> As in the case of [[myth]], the narratives are believed because they construct and reinforce the [[worldview]] of the group within which they are told, or "because they provide us with coherent and convincing explanations of complex events".<ref>John Mosier "War Myths" ''Historically Speaking: The Bulletin of the Historical Society'': VI: 4, March/April 2005.</ref>

[[Social science|Social scientists]] have started to draw on urban legends in order to help explain complex socio-psychological beliefs, such as attitudes to crime, childcare, fast food, SUVs and other "family" choices.<ref>{{cite journal |last= Croft |first= Robin |year= 2006 |title= Folklore, Families and Fear: Exploring the Influence of the Oral Tradition on Consumer Decision-making |journal= Journal of Marketing Management |volume= 22 |issue= 9 & 10 |pages= 1053–76 |doi= 10.1362/026725706778935574|s2cid= 144646252 }}</ref> The authors make an explicit connection between urban legends and popular folklore, such as ''[[Grimm's Fairy Tales]]'', where similar themes and motifs arise. For that reason, it is characteristic of groups within which a given narrative circulates to vehemently reject claims or demonstrations of non-factuality; an example would be the expressions of outrage by police officers who are told that adulteration of Halloween treats by strangers (the subject of periodic [[moral panic]]s) occurs extremely rarely, if at all.<ref name="autogenerated1" /><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Best| first1 = Joel| author-link1 = Joel Best| last2 = Horiuchi| first2 = Gerald T.| title = The Razor Blade in the Apple: The Social Construction of Urban Legends| journal = Social Problems| date = June 1985| volume = 32| issue = 5| pages = 488–97| issn = 0037-7791| doi = 10.2307/800777| jstor = 800777}}</ref>