Spoiling The Ending Makes For A Better Story
Scientific American:
Old Yeller dies, Darth Vader is Luke’s dad, Little Red Riding Hood lives. Did I spoil it? Yes I did. But maybe I did you a favor.
Spoilers enhance the enjoyment of a story, according to findings to be published in the journal Psychological Science.
Researchers presented three versions of classic stories to 30 subjects. Each story had an ironic twist, or a solved-mystery, or a dramatic end. One version was the original—no spoiler–another had the spoiler woven into the story and the third gave the spoiler right off the bat.
Turned out the subjects significantly preferred a spoiled version of the ironic twist stories best. The literary stories were the least preferred. But subjects enjoyed the spoiled version more than the original.
Read the whole story: Scientific American
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