Study: People With Low Self-Esteem Prefer Their Mysteries To Have Easy Solutions

Hmmm...

U.S. and German researchers found that people who have lower levels of self-esteem get more enjoyment from crime and detective stories that confirm their suspicions in the end, while those with higher self-esteem prefer a surprise ending.

"Personality plays a role in whether a person wants to be confirmed or surprised when they read mysteries," Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick, co-author of the study and assistant professor of communication at Ohio State University, said in a statement.

"People with low self-esteem like to feel they knew all along who committed the crime, probably because it makes them feel smarter."

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The students read one of three versions of the story.

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After reading the story, the participants rated how much they enjoyed the ending -- and people with low self-esteem rated the surprise ending as much less enjoyable.

John Kerry just announced his morale-boosting plan to ship tens of thousands of Encyclopedia Brown books to our troops. "Our troops really like those stories," he said. "Even though the actual solutions make their heads hurt, they enjoy knowing beforehand that the perpetrator is almost always Bugs Meaney."

posted by Ace at 02:03 PM

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