Do you want someone to come along and spoil that short-story you’re about to begin? Yes you do, says this study. The “Hedonic Ratings of Spoiled & Unspoiled Stories” chart, compiled by U.C. San Diego researchers, addresses three distinct genres—ironic twist stories (that’s a genre?), mysteries and literary stories. The conclusion: “readers preferred a spoiler paragraph before diving into short fiction, as opposed to just enjoying it as is.”
Let the self-reflection and psychoanalysis commence.