Cognitive Fluency
The human mind is a complex entity, and the way it works is even more perplexing! A recent breakthrough in the field of psychology suggests cognitive fluency plays an important role in creating individual perceptions. Here’s what you need to know about cognitive fluency and the way it impacts your life and decisions!
What Do You Mean By Cognitive Fluency?
Simply put, it is considered as the ‘ease of understanding’. According to modern psychology, if you perceive something to be simple and easy, you are more likely to indulge in it. Several factors contribute towards your perception; nevertheless, these help you assign a specific difficulty/do-ability rating to the task at hand.
The way information is organized and displayed plays a pivotal role in this regard. This includes (and is not limited to) the fonts, vocabulary, and word choices. Here’s an example to clarify.
It is easier to trust medicines with simpler names as compared with those that are difficult to pronounce – the human mind associates ease-of-reading with ease-of-trusting. In the same way, complex and unreadable menus are typical for fine dining restaurants because they give an impression of quality, luxury and fine taste.
For the most part, it is a subconscious decision on your behalf, but it comes into play quite often throughout the course of your life.
Implications for Cognitive Fluency
The easier it is for you to read and understand a piece of information, the more believable and do-able it is. There has been ample research in the field to support this claim. This phenomenon has great implications for different specializations.
For businesses, cognitive fluency translates into higher sales and revenues. If it is made easier for customers to understand and use a product or service, it will inherently compel them to purchase. The concept applies to name choices as well – the simpler they are, the better they will yield!
For medical science, improving cognitive fluency can help alleviate the doubts and anxieties people usually face while undergoing treatments. This can actually help in improving the outcome of medical routines.
On the whole, cognitive fluency plays an important role in decision-making. If it sounds simple and doable, the human mind will automatically encourage you to perform. Most people label it as the intuition. This goes a long way in defining your future!
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