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Salt Passage Research: The State of the Art

Pencil, M. (1976). Salt Passage Research: The State of the Art. Journal of Communication 26(4).
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=608474701&Fmt=10&clientId=36305&RQT=309&VName=PQD
(This is a ProQuest full-text link and you probably have to be at a UIUC IP address for it to work.)

Favorite fake journal name: Proceedings of the Academy of Wartime Chaplains

Favorite quote:

Hovland, et al. arranged for 112 Army recruits, each sitting alone at one end of a table with salt at the other end, to repeat the utterance, "Please pass the salt," every five minutes for 12 hours. The average distance the salt traveled was .5 inch, which the experimenters explained was due to measurement error.

Of course this kind of humor is even better if you know who Hovland was.

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