In a survey, 110 Stanford undergraduates were asked this question: “Have you ever changed the words in an academic essay to make the essay sound more valid or intelligent by using complicated language?” A whopping 86.4% of them said yes. Yet most communication and writing and presentation textbooks and authors sing the praises of clear and simple language. Still, we have this prevailing notion that big words make us sound smarter. And yet, research shows that isn’t the case.
Here are two research-backed reasons to stop using unnecessarily big words when we communicate.
1. It slows down processing.
Have you ever had to read something and then read it again, and maybe even a third time to understand it? How frustrating! When we have to take more time process information, it feels like a waste of time, which no one enjoys. And besides being frustrating, it drains our energy to process all those big words. And this isn’t just a cliché.
In his New York Times bestseller Thinking Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman shares research that proves “the idea of mental energy is more than a mere metaphor.” Studies have proven that difficult mental tasks deplete our blood glucose levels. We rely on glucose as the main source of our energy. When our blood glucose drops, we can experience fatigue, headaches, muddled thinking, mood changes and more.
So if we develop presentations that use big words, we are literally making it hard for our audience to process the information and are draining their energy resources. Beyond that though, we might be damaging our own credibility and creating negative impressions.
2. It leads to negative perceptions.
We use big words to sound smart. But studies show audience members tend to have negative impressions of speakers who use too many big words. The Stanford study I cited at the beginning comes from Daniel M. Oppenheimer’s work, “Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity: Problems with Using Long Words Needlessly.” The title of his work creatively demonstrates the problem he’s addressing. (And don’t you just love an academic researcher with a sense of humor?) Here’s what he found.
When we can process something easily, that leads to positive perceptions of truth, confidence, and even liking. But let’s flip that. When the information we are reading or listening to is difficult to understand because of unnecessary big words, we start to form negative perceptions. We might see the information or speaker as untruthful, lacking confidence, or even unlikable. That means the very things we set out to accomplish—appearing smart and in control—are actually undermined by our use of big words.
When we write and deliver our presentations, we are working against a long-held, but misinformed belief that big words=good things. But friends, that’s not the case. Simplify. Clarify. And in doing so, make yourself and your presentation easier to understand.
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