diff --git a/django/contrib/admin/templatetags/admin_list.py b/django/contrib/admin/templatetags/admin_list.py
index a9ba6d5bea..894b73c6c7 100644
--- a/django/contrib/admin/templatetags/admin_list.py
+++ b/django/contrib/admin/templatetags/admin_list.py
@@ -76,8 +76,8 @@ def result_headers(cl):
         except models.FieldDoesNotExist:
             # For non-field list_display values, check for the function
             # attribute "short_description". If that doesn't exist, fall
-            # back to the method name. And __repr__ is a special-case.
-            if field_name == '__repr__':
+            # back to the method name. And __str__ is a special-case.
+            if field_name == '__str__':
                 header = lookup_opts.verbose_name
             else:
                 attr = getattr(cl.model, field_name) # Let AttributeErrors propogate.
diff --git a/django/db/models/options.py b/django/db/models/options.py
index c06ecabc1b..88051d99c8 100644
--- a/django/db/models/options.py
+++ b/django/db/models/options.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ import re
 get_verbose_name = lambda class_name: re.sub('([A-Z])', ' \\1', class_name).lower().strip()
 
 DEFAULT_NAMES = ('verbose_name', 'verbose_name_plural', 'db_table', 'ordering',
-                 'unique_together', 'permissions', 'get_latest_by', 
+                 'unique_together', 'permissions', 'get_latest_by',
                  'order_with_respect_to', 'app_label')
 
 class Options:
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ class AdminOptions:
         save_on_top=False, list_select_related=False):
         self.fields = fields
         self.js = js or []
-        self.list_display = list_display or ['__repr__']
+        self.list_display = list_display or ['__str__']
         self.list_filter = list_filter or []
         self.date_hierarchy = date_hierarchy
         self.save_as, self.ordering = save_as, ordering