Ann Landers’ Poll

The advice columnist Ann Landers once asked her readers, "if you had it to do over again, would you have children?

A few weeks later her column was headlined "70% OF PARENTS SAY KIDS NOT WORTH IT." Indeed, 70% of the nearly 10,000 parents who wrote in said they would not have children if they could make the choice again.

A poll of parents was taken two months later, finding that 91% of parents would have children again.

Effect of Propaganda

In 1940, a psychologist conducted an experiment to study the effects of propaganda on attitude toward a foreign government. He made up a test of attitude toward the German government and administered it to a group of American students. After reading German propaganda for several months, he re-tested the students again to see if their attitudes had changed.

The students’ attitudes changed tremendously between pre-test and post-test. It should be noted that Germany attacked and conquered France while the experiment was in progress.