@article {Ward:November 2006:0956-7976:959,
	author = "Ward, Andrew",
	author = "Brenner, Lyle",
	title = "Accentuate the Negative: The Positive Effects of Negative Acknowledgment",
	journal = "Psychological Science",
	volume = "17",
	year = "November 2006",
	abstract = "<P></P>Three studies investigated the capacity of negative acknowledgment, the admission of an unfavorable quality, to elicit relatively positive responses. In Study 1, an acknowledgment that a written paragraph was confusing led individuals to rate the paragraph as clearer than they did when no acknowledgment was offered. In Study 2, a foreign speaker was rated as possessing a clearer voice when he acknowledged his strong accent than when he did not. In Study 3, a hypothetical college applicant's acknowledgment of receiving less than stellar high school grades resulted in a more positive evaluation of those grades. The interpersonal risks and benefits of negative acknowledgment as an impression-management strategy are discussed.",
	pages = "959-962(4)",
	url = "http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bpl/psci/2006/00000017/00000011/art00008"
	doi = "doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01812.x"
}