Hard-to-read fonts make people read more carefully

If there is a dark side to fluency, might there be a bright side to its opposite, disfluency? Alter’s work suggests there might be. In one of his studies, he printed a simple, easy-to-read question: “How many animals of each kind did Moses take on the ark?” Many respondents said two. But when the question was printed in a harder-to-read font, respondents were 35 percent more likely to recognize that it was Noah, not Moses, who built the ark. The less legible font made people more careful readers.

Behavioural principles

Behavioural ideas at play in this post

Short, plain-English explanations of the principles behind this post, with links to related books and examples in the archive.

Social proof

Other people's behaviour acts as a cue for what to do, buy, or believe.

More quotes

Processing fluency

Easy-to-process things feel truer, safer, and more appealing.

More quotes

Curse of knowledge

Once we know something, it becomes hard to imagine what it feels like not to know it.

More quotes

Hard-to-read fonts make people read more carefully

Behavioural ideas at play in this post

Sharp thinking in your inbox