The Minority Report

Counternotions points us to this interesting study today: Can fonts make you want to exercise less?

Two psychologists at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor decided to investigate this idea in their lab. Hyunjin Song and Norbert Schwarz wanted to see if they could motivate a group of 20-year-old college students to exercise regularly. They gave all the students written instructions for a regular exercise routine, but they used a simple yet ingenious method to make the how-to instructions either cognitively palatable or challenging: some received instructions printed in Arial typeface, a plain font designed for easy reading; others got their instructions printed in a Brush font, which basically looks as if it has been written by hand with a Japanese paintbrush—it is unfamiliar and much harder to read.

A Recipe for Motivation: Easy to Read, Easy to Do: Scientific American

The findings were remarkable. Those who had read the exercise instructions in an unadorned, accessible typeface were much more open to the prospect of exercising: they believed that the regimen would take less time and that it would feel more fluid and easy. Most important, they were more willing to make exercise part of their day.

Apparently the students’ brains mistook the ease of reading about exercise for the ease of actually doing push-ups and crunches, and this misunderstanding motivated them to think about a life change. Those who struggled through the Japanese brushstrokes had no intention of heading to the gym; the reading alone tired them out.

A Recipe for Motivation: Easy to Read, Easy to Do: Scientific American

Here is more information from Words that Work:

They were asked to estimate how long the routine would take, and were given a seven-point scale to rate the following: how quick it would feel, if it would flow naturally, drag on and feel boring, and how likely they were to incorporate it into their daily routine.

The findings, which were published in the October issue of the journal Psychological Science, revealed that participants viewed the exercise, when provided in the Arial font, as feeling quicker and easier to include in their daily routine. As for time, they thought the exercise in Arial would take 8 minutes, but in the Brush font, 15.

Plain fonts easier to read « Words that work

Here is the abstract for the report:

If It’s Hard to Read, It’s Hard to Do: Processing Fluency Affects Effort Prediction and Motivation

Wiley InterScience :: JOURNALS :: Psychological Science