The Effects of Recipient Desire to Hear on News Transmission

Abstract

It was hypothesized that reluctance to communicate bad news (the MUM effect) is partially due to communicators assuming that recipients do not want to be told bad news. In a design in which news (Good versus Bad) and recipient desire to hear the news (Low versus. Not Expressed versus High) were independently manipulated, 60 male Ss were given the choice of transmitting or not transmitting the news (an aptitude score). Greatest news transmission was to recipients perceived as having high desire to hear (p <.005). Potential recipients of good news were assumed to have high desire to hear more often than were potential recipients of bad news (p = .03). The MUM effect was replicated (p < .05).