Bad News First: How Optimal Directness Depends On What Is Negated

This article reports study results in which participants (n=145) responded to a variety of negative messages in a variety of message channels, visual, textual, and verbal. Participants participated in A-B testing of distinct message strategies and then identified communication values that seemed most important in distinct message contexts. Results showed very clear differences between two broad classes of negative information: negative information about perceived physical facts (e.g. the presence of hazardous materials or dangerous conditions) as opposed to negative information about social relationships (e.g., a romantic breakup, the death of a loved one, or termination of employment). Participants consistently identified directness as a communicative virtue, even in contexts where they preferred a message format with a consistently small buffer in order to also satisfy a perceived need for politeness. Conversely, explanatory information prior to bad news was never preferred over bad-news-first in cases involving physical-fact bad news.