Cognitive Fluency

After reading the article, “Easy = True” by Drake Bennett, I found that most of the points he brings up make a lot of sense. The article introduces, “cognitive fluency”. It describes it as “a measure of how easy it is to think about something and that people prefer things that are easy to think about to those that are hard.” Also, items that are familiar to us are going to be easy to think about and therefore, we prefer familiarity. Specifically, I was intrigued by the topics of font and beauty.

According to the article, a font that is clearer, simpler, and more legible makes the reader believe that it is more truthful. For me, this holds true. A good example of this is when I am reading articles online. If the text is clear and legible without bright distracting colors, I am more likely to believe what it is saying. In contrast, when I come across an article in which the text is in cursive or in different colors, I am more critical of it and believe that it is not as truthful.

Thinking about this, it begins to make a lot of sense. It is no wonder that politicians and advertisers use simple, legible fonts when trying to get their audience to trust them and believe in their product.

Bennett also brings up the topic of beauty. According to the article, “…people assign all sorts of specific characteristics to things that feel familiar, like beauty.” This also makes a lot of sense to me. When I think about what our society defines as "beautiful", certain famous actors and actresses come to mind. I think this can be explained by the article. Because I see their faces all the time in the media, I am very familiar with their faces. Therefore, because I have already “learned these facial features, I like them.”

This idea that beauty is linked with familiarity is very interesting. The faces you see on TV and in other aspects of the media are in fact, prototypes of beauty. The article explains that prototypical faces are easiest to process, which is why we prefer them. I do realize however that this is not the only factor that needs to be taken into account when when considering what is “beautiful”.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this article and find most of the points Bennett talks about to be true.