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The Pollyanna Hypothesis in Business Writing: Initial Results, Suggestions for Research
dc.contributor.authorHildebrandt, Herbert W.en_US
dc.contributor.authorSnyder, Richard D.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2010-04-14T13:36:32Z
dc.date.available2010-04-14T13:36:32Z
dc.date.issued1981en_US
dc.identifier.citationHildebrandt, Herbert; Snyder, Richard (1981). "The Pollyanna Hypothesis in Business Writing: Initial Results, Suggestions for Research." Journal of Business Communication 18(1): 5-15. <http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/68397>en_US
dc.identifier.issn0021-9436en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/68397
dc.description.abstractThis paper looks at three hypotheses: that regardless of the financially good or bad years of a corporation, the communication in the annual let ters to the stockholders will be predominantly positive; that negative words are less frequent in a financially good year than a bad year; and that German readers also tend to accept the same preferred, positive words as Americans. All hypotheses were sustained after viewing 12 annual letters to stockholders in 1975 and 12 letters in 1977. The Pollyanna Hypothesis provides a fertile area for further research: into business letters, business speeches, or other areas which fall into the genre of written or oral business communication.en_US
dc.format.extent3108 bytes
dc.format.extent470374 bytes
dc.format.mimetypetext/plain
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.publisherSage Publicationsen_US
dc.titleThe Pollyanna Hypothesis in Business Writing: Initial Results, Suggestions for Researchen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
dc.subject.hlbsecondlevelCommunicationsen_US
dc.subject.hlbsecondlevelManagementen_US
dc.subject.hlbsecondlevelEconomicsen_US
dc.subject.hlbtoplevelBusinessen_US
dc.subject.hlbtoplevelSocial Sciencesen_US
dc.description.peerreviewedPeer Revieweden_US
dc.contributor.affiliationumThe University of Michiganen_US
dc.contributor.affiliationumThe University of Michiganen_US
dc.description.bitstreamurlhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68397/2/10.1177_002194368101800102.pdf
dc.identifier.doi10.1177/002194368101800102en_US
dc.identifier.sourceJournal of Business Communicationen_US
dc.identifier.citedreferenceEleanor Porter, Pollyanna, Colonial Press, Boston, 1913, p. 20.en_US
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dc.identifier.citedreferenceRonald C. Johnson, Calvin W. Thompson, and Gerald Frincke, "Word Values, Word Frequency, and Visual Duration Thresholds," Psychology Review, 67 (1960), pp. 332-342.en_US
dc.identifier.citedreferenceC.E. Noble, "An Analysis of Meaning," Psychological Review, 59 (1952), pp. 421-430.en_US
dc.identifier.citedreferenceR.C. Johnson and D. Lim, "Personality Variables in Associative Production," Journal of General Psychology, 15 (1961), pp. 199-204.en_US
dc.identifier.citedreferenceRonald C. Johnson, "Word Effect and Word Frequency in Written English," The Journal of General Psychology, 75 (1966), pp. 35-38.en_US
dc.identifier.citedreferenceM. Anisfeld and W.E. Lambert, "When are Pleasant Words Learned Faster than Unpleasant Words?" Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 5 (1966), pp. 132-141.en_US
dc.identifier.citedreferenceR.B. Zajonc, "Attitudinal Effects of Mere Exposure," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 9 (1968) 1-27, Monograph Supplement No. 2, Part 2.en_US
dc.identifier.citedreferenceR.B. Zajonc, "Brainwash: Familiarity Breeds Comfort," Psychology Today, 3 (February 1970), pp. 33-35, 60-64.en_US
dc.identifier.citedreferenceA.A. Harrison and R.B. Zajonc, "The Effects of Frequency and Duration of Exposure on Response Competition and Affective Ratings," Journal of Psychology, 75 (1970) 163-170.en_US
dc.identifier.citedreferenceMargaret Matlin and David Stang, The Pollyanna Principle, Schenkman, Cambridge, 1978.en_US
dc.identifier.citedreferenceJerry Boucher and Charles E. Osgood, "The Pollyanna Hypothesis," Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 8 (1969), p. 1.en_US
dc.identifier.citedreferenceCorporations used in the study were the following: Allied Chemical; Aluminum Company of America; American Can; American Telephone and Telegraph; Du Pont; General Electric; Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing; Standard Oil of California; and Texaco.en_US
dc.identifier.citedreferenceZajonc, op. cit., 1968, pp. 4-5.en_US
dc.identifier.citedreferenceEdward L. Thorndike and Irving Lorge, The Teacher's Word Book of 30,000 Words, Columbia University, New York, 1944.en_US
dc.identifier.citedreferenceThe authors express their appreciation to Craig Roush for assistance with the statistical data and Tom Cragg for computer assistance.en_US
dc.owningcollnameInterdisciplinary and Peer-Reviewed


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