Why does an unanswered headline make you want to click?
A headline can make an omission feel like a question you need answered. Words such as “this” point toward missing information, inviting the reader to fill the gap by opening the story. Getting a click still leaves a separate question: was the answer worth the reader’s time?
Questions you could explore
- When does withholding a detail create curiosity, and when does it leave too little to care about?
Start reading
- Kate Scott; Journal of Pragmatics, 2021; Kingston University repositoryYou won’t believe what’s in this paper! Clickbait, relevance, and the curiosity gap
The abstract explains a linguistic analysis of headline wording and information gaps. It does not report a satisfaction experiment.
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Your topic carries over. Record up to 2½ minutes, depending on your plan.