S E L L I N G T O C O LL E C T I VE BUY E R 63
Th e a u th o r doe s no t reason from th ese find
ings th a t a supe ri ority in n umbe r of l ong
words a n d sentence s p roves concl usively a c o r
resp ondi ng in tell ec tual sup eriori ty. Clearly
l ong w ord s an d l ong sen tences a re n o t a n
absol ut e c rite rio n of erudi ti on o r sh ort ones
o f i gnoranc e Neve rth el ess, w e m us t a dmi t
th a t i n th e l on g run, th e ch a nce s favor a
grea te r n umbe r o f l ong wo rds being a sso
ciated wi th m o re e nli gh tened p e opl e. M eas
urements m ad e by va rious vocabula ry tests
h ave sh own th a t th e re a re mo r e words i n th e
voc ab ulari es o f th e m o re enligh tened ; h enc e
w e migh t expec t a grea te r n umbe r o f lo ng
word s th ere.
If we sh oul d gra n t th e validi ty of such a s
sump tio ns, h oweve r, we still sh o ul d re c og
niz e th a t th e kin d o f me as ures w e h ave j ust
m ade a re still ve ry fra gment ary. Th e psy
chol o gical difference s b e twee n p eriodical s, a n d
especially th ose differenc e s tha t i nteres t th e
a dvertise r, a re m uch b roa de r. P artic ula rly
imp ortan t a re th ose o f a n emo ti onal o rder,
such a s ta ste s, i nt erests, an d th e like.
S uch differenc e s migh t conc eivably b e
sh own a s follows : In e ac h p e riodic al b eing
i nvestiga te d, mea sure th e am oun t. o f sp ac e
devote d t o ea ch kind o f readin g m at te r ( ex
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