Since I write every day, I can see the impact of the headline or title of a piece. I use the headline to decide what the writing is about but it uses me to set the angle, the setting of the piece. When I read "Ancient Romans Performed Poorly", I am already set to find evidence that those people didn't do so well. The process reminds me of what is usually "anchoring", a process popularized by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky in their research on human tendencies. In their work, I guess the initial idea related to prices and money. Suppose I like your MASA cap and ask if it is for sale. I think there is way too much cheer floating around and I want to promote less of it. Suppose I like the idea of "Make America Sad Again." You are willing to sell that precious cap and you quote a figure: "sure, I will sell you the cap for $15.00".
A typical discussion of the anchoring phenomenon focuses on the quoted number: 15. Let's say I come back with a counter-offer: "$10". If we offer back and forth with numbers in the neighborhood of the original $15, it served as an anchor.
I might avoid the whole process by not offering to buy. I might make the first quote: "How about I buy the cap for $8.00".
The idea can apply to frames or situations other than numbers. I looked up "anchoring" and found
Anchoring or focalism is a cognitive bias where an individual depends too heavily on an initial piece of information offered to make subsequent judgments during decision making. Once the value of this anchor is set, all future negotiations, arguments, estimates, etc. are discussed in relation to the anchor. Wikipedia
When Lynn went to graduate school, she landed among several professors working on postmodernism and related approaches to thought. I just asked her to encapsulate the subject as she experienced it and she said it was an attempt to be conscious of a writer's meaning, a reader's takeaway meaning and any public typical meaning.
I recognize that writers, especially young writers trying to forge a career, may take a slant that I think is wrong-headed or inflammatory. I also see that editors can be in a position to decide on a headline that may frighten or anger me into paying attention.
