The Science Of Spoilers

The thought is that spoilers can make the experience better. It’s science. At least that’s what Jonah Lehrer puts forth in an article posted at Ars Technica.

I was recently listening to one of my favorite podcasts (Geek Friday hosted by Faith Korpi & Jason Seifer) and Faith brought up the issue of books and movies being spoiled by someone who blurts out the critical piece of the plot that she is looking forward to discovering. She disagreed with the article’s author in that the true joy of the story comes from the twists, turns, and nuances of the story’s journey and not the final conclusion of the story.

I won’t re-hash everything in the article as you can read it for yourself, but you can see below the responses of those in the study. As you can see, the stories were rated as more enjoyable when the ending was known from the onset of the story.

Source: Ars Technica

So next time one of your friends hollers, “Wait, wait! Don’t tell me!”, you can point them to the above mentioned article and proceed with your spoiler. Or can you?

Do spoilers really ruin the story? Are you happy to continue reading/watching even if someone tells you the ending? Are spoilers okay as long as you give warning and allow those who don't want to hear to leave? I’d like to know what you think.

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