Using a signal detection approach to understand the impacts of processing fluency and efficacy on accuracy in misinformation detection.

This experiment ( = 1,019) examined how a state of processing fluency, induced through either an easy or difficult task (reading a simple vs. complex message or recalling few vs. many examples) impacted participants' ability to subsequently detect misinformation.

When Fears Come True: An Experimental Approximation of Patient Comprehension During Initial Cancer Diagnoses.

An experiment ( = 624 U.S. adults) was designed to approximate how well patients attend to information during a cancer-related doctor visit.

Reading dies in complexity: Online news consumers prefer simple writing.

Over 30,000 field experiments with and showed that readers prefer simpler headlines (e.g., more common words and more readable writing) over more complex ones.

Using infographics to reduce the negative effects of jargon on intentions to vaccinate against COVID-19.

Guided by feelings-as-information theory, this experiment ( = 643), based in the United States, tested whether the use of jargon and infographics within messages designed to explain the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines affected behavioral intentions to vaccinate. The results revealed that the presence of jargon was associated with a difficult processing experience, message resistance, decreased perceptions of message credibility, and reduced intentions to get the COVID-19 vaccine. That said, when an infographic was integrated into the jargon message, these negative relationships went away and the presence of jargon no longer indirectly impacted intention to vaccinate.

Eye Movements Predict Large-Scale Voting Decisions.

More than 100 countries allow people to vote directly on policies in direct democracy elections (e.g., 2016 Brexit referendum).

The predictive utility of word familiarity for online engagements and funding.

Metacognitive frameworks such as processing fluency often suggest people respond more favorably to simple and common language versus complex and technical language. It is easier for people to process information that is simple and nontechnical compared to complex information, therefore leading to more engagement with targets. In two studies covering 12 field samples (total = 1,064,533), we establish and replicate this simpler-is-better phenomenon by demonstrating people engage more with nontechnical language when giving their time and attention (e.

Don't dumb it down: The effects of jargon in COVID-19 crisis communication.

Experts are typically advised to avoid jargon when communicating with the general public, but previous research has not established whether avoiding jargon is necessary in a crisis. Using the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as a backdrop, this online survey experiment (N = 393) examined the effect of jargon use across three different topics that varied in situational urgency: COVID-19 (high urgency), flood risk (low urgency), and federal emergency policy (control). Results revealed that although the use of jargon led to more difficult processing and reduced persuasion for the two less-urgent topics (flood risk, emergency policy), there was no effect of jargon in the COVID-19 condition.

Jargon as a barrier to effective science communication: Evidence from metacognition.

In this experiment ( = 650), we examine the negative consequences of jargon on individuals' perceptions of emerging scientific technology and aim to explain these effects. We find that the presence of jargon impairs people's ability to process scientific information, and that this impairment leads to greater motivated resistance to persuasion, increased risk perceptions, and lower support for technology adoption. These findings suggest that the use of jargon undermines efforts to inform and persuade the public through the cognitive mechanism of metacognition.

Risk perceptions of people living with HIV/AIDS: how similarity affects optimistic bias.

Little as known about how people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWH/A) assess their vulnerability to non-HIV related risk factors, and how this judgement is affected by perceived similarity with others. This study indicates not only that PLWH/A are optimistically biased in their risk pereceptions, but also that they do not use others' HIV status to assess similarity. Perceived similarity with others, however, affects risk judgements: greater the perceived similarity with others, greater the tendency to judge others' vulnerability relative to one's own.