Bigger Isn't Always Better

Big words won’t make you sound smarter, according to this year’s Ig Noble Prize for improbable research recipient for Literature, Princeton psychology professor Daniel M. Oppenheimer.

His paper, “Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity: Problems with Using Long Words Needlessly,” found that contrary to prevailing wisdom among undergraduates, readers are more likely to think that clear, concise writers are more intelligent.

The study was published last year in the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology.

According to Oppenheimer’s paper, almost two thirds of the Princeton students polled admitted to using a thesaurus when writing an essay “to give the impression that the content is more valid or intelligent.”

Harvard students, too, confess an attachment to their thesauri—in moderation.

“If you use a thesaurus, it’s obviously going to make you look like an idiot if you don’t know the meaning of the words,” said Shawn J. Hilgendorf ’10.

“But if you are choosing more complex or exact terminology I think it would make you look smarter,” he added.

“Students sometimes use words a few sizes too large for their purposes,” said Harvard Bernbaum Professor of Literature Professor Daniel Albright. “In general, if you say caliginous when you mean dark, you are off the beaten track.”

Complex words in student writing sometimes seem out of place, said Lydia A. Fillingham, a preceptor of the Harvard Expository Writing Program.

“One thing people do a lot of is use the noun form instead of a verb. Instead of using ‘spent more,’ they write ‘spending increased,’” she said.

Oppenheimer, like his study’s subjects, prefers straightforward writing.

“If you want to communicate your point effectively, you should do everything in your power to write as clearly as possible. And by no means should you go out of your way to make your writing less clear, as many students tend to do,” he said.