Overview
Words have a remarkable ability to not only convey information but to also shape perceptions of the speaker’s or writer’s own image. For instance, the use of academic terminology might suggest a background or career in education, while informal slang may project a laid-back or even too casual persona. Regardless of our personal feelings towards the words we choose, or how carefully we choose them, others may make assumptions about us based on those words.
An intriguing context where one’s word choice could affect one’s image is the use of an expansive vocabulary. Might the use of “big words” affect our image? And if so, does it help or hurt? On the one hand, mastering the English lexicon requires motivation and memory, often prompted by rigorous academic training. On the other hand, everyday people only use a subset of those words.
Thus, the question arises: Does the use of big words signify intelligence? Or does it merely signal pretentiousness? To shed some light on this issue, we conducted an interesting social experiment.
Words have a remarkable ability to not only convey information but to also shape perceptions of the speaker’s or writer’s own image. For instance, the use of academic terminology might suggest a background or career in education, while informal slang may project a laid-back or even too casual persona. Regardless of our personal feelings towards the words we choose, or how carefully we choose them, others may make assumptions about us based on those words.
An intriguing context where one’s word choice could affect one’s image is the use of an expansive vocabulary. Might the use of “big words” affect our image? And if so, does it help or hurt? On the one hand, mastering the English lexicon requires motivation and memory, often prompted by rigorous academic training. On the other hand, everyday people only use a subset of those words.
Thus, the question arises: Does the use of big words signify intelligence? Or does it merely signal pretentiousness? To shed some light on this issue, we conducted an interesting social experiment.
The Experiment
Our study involved 401 participants recruited from Amazon MTurk who took part in a survey experiment, designed as a randomized controlled trial. Participants were presented with a fictional scenario featuring an email from a hypothetical new co-worker named Adam, who introduces himself using either simple words or big words (randomly assigned). Both versions of the email are provided below.
From: Adam Lewin
Sent: Monday, May 26, 2020, 9:37 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Hello
Hi everyone,
I'm looking forward to joining this great company. My name is Adam, and I'm a recent hire from Burberry (no hard feelings toward them, ha). While I was there I helped revamp their fickle accounting system to run more smoothly and automatically. I hope to help with stuff like that here too.
Best,
Adam
Sent: Monday, May 26, 2020, 9:37 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Hello
Hi everyone,
I'm looking forward to joining this great company. My name is Adam, and I'm a recent hire from Burberry (no hard feelings toward them, ha). While I was there I helped revamp their fickle accounting system to run more smoothly and automatically. I hope to help with stuff like that here too.
Best,
Adam
From: Adam Lewin
Sent: Tuesday, May 26, 2020, 9:37 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Salutations
Hello fellow colleagues,
It is quite an honor and a privilege to be joining this fine establishment. My name is Adam, and I am a recent hire from Burberry Group Plc (although I assure you I bare no animosity toward our competitor, haha). During my tenure I assisted with the overhaul of our rather capricious accounting system to a more perfunctory set of structures and processes. It is my aspiration to assist with such endeavors in a similar manner at our own organization.
Regards,
Adam
Sent: Tuesday, May 26, 2020, 9:37 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Salutations
Hello fellow colleagues,
It is quite an honor and a privilege to be joining this fine establishment. My name is Adam, and I am a recent hire from Burberry Group Plc (although I assure you I bare no animosity toward our competitor, haha). During my tenure I assisted with the overhaul of our rather capricious accounting system to a more perfunctory set of structures and processes. It is my aspiration to assist with such endeavors in a similar manner at our own organization.
Regards,
Adam
After reading the email, participants provided ratings on a 1-7 scale, responding to the question, "To what extent do you think each of the following words describe Adam? (1 = Not at all; 7 = Extremely)." The five words, which comprised our outcome measures, included the following:
* Smart
* Nice
* Likable
* Arrogant
* Hard-working
* Smart
* Nice
* Likable
* Arrogant
* Hard-working
Results
For the keen observer, our use of an eloquent writing style foreshadows the results. Participants rated Adam as slightly smarter when his email used big words rather than simple words. The difference on the 1-7 scale amounted to 0.34, equivalent to approximately 7% (p = 0.010). There were no significant effects of big words on how arrogant Adam appeared, nor were there any differences for how likable, nice, or hard-working Adam seemed. None of these results differed based on participants’ age or gender.
Conclusion
If you are contemplating expanding your vocabulary, our findings suggest that doing so may enhance perceptions of your intelligence, albeit to a minor extent. However, it’s still important to consider your context and audience. There are undoubtedly times, places, and people for which using fancy vernacular may just be off-putting. In future studies, we may explore whether the effects of big words differ across individuals with varying educational and occupational backgrounds, as well as in different social or professional settings.
Methods Note
For our analyses, two-sample t-tests were used to test for significant differences in competence, warmth, likability, arrogance, and work ethic between the big-words and simple-words conditions. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression analyses with interaction terms were used to evaluate potential demographic differences and interactions (e.g., gender, age). Our statistical significance threshold was a p-value below 0.05. In the big-words version of the email, the word "bare" was used in place of "bear." The effect of this substitution will be tested in a future study.
Additional details are available on our methodology page. Data and survey materials are available upon request.