Final Exam Flashcards
emic
perspective of insider, participant
etic
perspective of outsider, observer
motif
smallest plot of information (specific plot elements, shared structural patterns, formulaic repetition
oikotype
localized variation of folklore, inclusion on specific details to make it sound more believable
mercantile effect
legends that deal with businesses and corporations
Goliath effect
urban legends frequently attach themselves to the largest company or the most successful product on the market
emotional selection hypothesis
people tend to pass on the legends that evoke the strongest emotional response (disgust, anger, fear, sadness, joy, hope)
rumor
short, non-narrative expressions of belief, often open-ended
plausibility
having an appearance or truth of reason; historical events lend plausibility
David Effect
blame migrates down the social scale and affixes itself to the poorest and most powerless (Hurricane Katrina, “Hold the Mayo”)
ostension
the enactment of a legend (ex: Bloody Mary ritual)
legend trip
an organized activity where individuals make a journey to a place where ‘uncanny’ events are believed to have occurred in the interest of testing a local legend
social context
setting in which a story/legend is told in
cultural context
larger environmental/culture which is placed in and it’s place in history
individual context
who tells or hears the story
comparative context
how its told in different situations
legend
narratives of belief containing motifs linked to modern life; focus on a single episode which is presented as bizarre or embarrassing; set in historical time; negotiation of the truth
kinesics
communication expressed in body language, facial expression, and other forms of non-verbal expression involving music
proxemics
concerned with spatial relationships and cultural conventions concerning nearness, distance, and placing
cultural source hypothesis
people are influenced by their culturally informed beliefs; suggests that narratives describing supernatural experiences are “fictitious products of tradition” or “imaginary subjective experiences shaped by tradition”; people use pre-existing beliefs to explain something that happened to them
experiential source hypothesis
experiences people describe should be taken at face value; suggests that “some significant portion of traditional supernatural belief is associated with accurate observations interpreted rationally”; experiences causes traditional narrative and belief, not the other way around
Forteana
anomalous, strange, uncategorizeable events
memorate
first person account of a supernatural or numinous experience
Mara
a supernatural attack, it’s unwanted and terrifying; waking up during the night, hearing and/or seeing something come in the room, being pressed on the chest or strangled and feeling suffocation, paralysis
