Trivia Junction

A Compendium of trivia I find interesting
...for the curious

Self-esteem, how secure are you?

Almost every murder mystery ends up the same way: The identity of the killer(s) is revealed. Sometimes it's a complete surprise, sometimes it's not.

Apparently, self-esteem helps dictate whether you prefer the former or the latter.

“Personality plays a role in whether a person wants to be confirmed or surprised when they read mysteries,” said Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick, an assistant professor of communication at Ohio State University. “People with low self-esteem like to feel they knew all along who committed the crime, probably because it makes them feel smarter.”

Knobloch-Westerwick came to this conclusion based on a study she conducted with 84 German students, who were given a variety of written personality tests, then asked to read a short mystery story called “Murder Because of Lust or Greed?” in which a businessman is murdered by either his wife or his lover.

Students read one of three versions of the story. In the first, both suspects are equally culpable. In the second, one suspect seems the more likely culprit and turns out to be the killer. In the third, the murderer is the least likely suspect.

Knobloch-Westerwick noted that students who were assessed with lower self-esteem tended to prefer the story with the expected ending. People with high self-esteem liked to be surprised.

Knobloch-Westerwick also noted that mysteries seem to appeal more to people with a greater “need for cognition.” In other words, they enjoy thinking (e.g. solving mysteries) more than the average person.

Prior | Tell us what you think | Next

Add to Your Social Bookmarks: Del.icio.us Digg Furl Reddit Simpy Spurl Y! MyWeb - Netscape - StumbleUpon StumbleUpon