Reluctance to Transmit Bad News When the Recipient Is Unknown: Experiments in Five Nations.

Postcards containing a message either high or low in importance, and either favorable or unfavorable for the recipient, were individually "lost" in the public transportation systems of Paris, Madrid, London, Geneva, and Frankfurt am Main. More postcards were returned when the message was favorable than when it was unfavorable, but only in the high importance conditions. This pattern of results occurred in each location except Madrid. The findings are discussed in terms of Rosen and Tesser's (1970) reluctance to bear bad news (MUM) effect.