Headlines and Heartbeats
> Newspapers prefer optimistic headlines.
> Contrary to many a newsman's longstanding belief, optimistic headlines do not increase newspaper sales.
> Optimistic headlines induce civilian complacency.
These conclusions, announced in the current Public Opinion Quarterly, were reached after tests by two U.S. psychologists who, though they are brothers, were working separatelyHarvard's Gordon W. Allport, 45. and Syracuse University's Floyd H. Allport, 53.
Harvard's Allport, helped by Elizabeth Winship, examined 3,226 headlines printed in a dozen representative papers between mid-August and mid-November, 1942a period in which the good news of North Africa was balanced by grim news from other fronts. He found 1,918 of...
