Do you want the good news or the bad news first? The nature and consequences of news order preferences
Legg, A.M.; Sweeny, K.
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 40(3): 279-288
2014
ISSN/ISBN: 0146-1672 PMID: 24177520 DOI: 10.1177/0146167213509113Document Number: 419412
Information often comes as a mix of good and bad news, prompting the question, "Do you want the good news or the bad news first?" In such cases, news-givers and news-recipients differ in their concerns and considerations, thus creating an obstacle to ideal communication. In three studies, we examined order preferences of news-givers and news-recipients and the consequences of these preferences. Study 1 confirmed that news-givers and news-recipients differ in their news order preferences. Study 2 tested two solutions to close the preference gap between news-givers and recipients and found that both perspective-taking and priming emotion-protection goals shift news-givers' delivery patterns to the preferred order of news-recipients. Study 3 provided evidence that news order has consequences for recipients, such that opening with bad news (as recipients prefer) reduces worry, but this emotional benefit undermines motivation to change behavior.