The “Untitled Effect”: How Explicitly Labelling Absence of a Title Shapes Poetry Appreciation

Titles play an important role in shaping aesthetic experience, yet little is known about how the explicit label Untitled affects poetry appreciation. The present study examined whether explicitly indicating the absence of a title influences readers’ aesthetic responses to poetry, and whether this effect varies as a function of individual differences. Across two online studies with Japanese participants, we compared poems labeled Untitled with poems presented without any displayed title (No-title), and, in Study 2, with poems presented with their Original titles. In Study 1, 400 participants were recruited and 357 were retained after exclusions. Participants read three poems under either the Untitled or No-title condition and rated aesthetic emotions, beauty, imagery, ambiguity, intention, romantic quality, and reading time. Relative to the No-title condition, the Untitled condition yielded significantly lower ratings for Aesthetic appeal, High- and Low-arousal positive emotions, Beauty, Imagery, and Romantic, as well as shorter Reading Time. Exploratory analyses suggested that some title effects varied as a function of attitudes toward ambiguity and prior poetry experience. In Study 2, 152 participants were recruited and 98 were retained after exclusions. Using a within-participants design, participants read nine poems in the Untitled, No-title, and Original title conditions and completed ratings of Aesthetic appeal, Epistemic emotions, Situation, Intention, Ambiguity, Meaningfulness, Interpretation, and Reading Time, along with a measure of multisensory imagery vividness. Compared with the Original title condition, the Untitled condition produced significantly lower ratings for Aesthetic appeal, Epistemic emotions, Situation, and Intention, and significantly higher Ambiguity. No reliable main effects were observed for Meaningfulness, Interpretation, or Reading Time. Exploratory analyses suggested that some title effects varied as a function of imagery vividness and prior poetry experience. Taken together, the findings suggest that the explicit label “Untitled” can shape poetry appreciation, particularly in contrast to original titles. Although Study 1 indicated that “Untitled” and No-title can produce different aesthetic responses, this contrast was not clearly replicated in Study 2. Thus, the distinction between “Untitled” and No-title should be understood as conceptually important but empirically context-dependent.