Thursday, August 11, 2011

Spoiler Alert: Stories Are Not Spoiled by 'Spoilers'


Well, I've always known this. I like to read the end first. Then I can see how the rest of the story leads up to it.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110810093735.htm

ScienceDaily (Aug. 10, 2011) — Many of us go to extraordinary lengths to avoid learning the endings of stories we have yet to read or see -- plugging our ears, for example, and loudly repeating "la-la-la-la," when discussion threatens to reveal the outcome. Of book and movie critics, we demand they not give away any plot twists or, at least, oblige with a clearly labeled "spoiler alert." We get angry with friends who slip up and spill a fictional secret.

But we're wrong and wasting our time, suggests a new experimental study from the University of California, San Diego. People who flip to the last page of a book before starting it have the better intuition. Spoilers don't spoil stories. Contrary to popular wisdom, they actually seem to enhance enjoyment.

Even ironic-twist and mystery stories -- which you'd be forgiven for assuming absolutely depend on suspense or surprise for success -- aren't spoiled by spoilers, according to a study by Nicholas Christenfeld and Jonathan Leavitt of UC San Diego's psychology department, to be published in a forthcoming issue of the journal Psychological Science.

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