Two headlines compete for your attention:
A: “Multifaceted approaches to ameliorating socioeconomic disparities”
B: “Why poor people stay poor”
Both convey similar ideas. But you clicked on B, didn’t you? Or at least your brain wanted to.
This isn’t about intelligence or laziness. It’s about cognitive fluency—one of the most powerful forces determining which stories spread and which die in obscurity.
What Is Cognitive Fluency?
Cognitive fluency is the subjective ease with which our brains process information.
When something is fluent:
- It feels true
- It feels familiar
- It feels safe
- It requires less mental effort
- We like it more
When something is disfluent:
- It feels false or suspicious
- It feels unfamiliar
- It requires concentration
- We distrust it
- We avoid it
Here’s the wild part: fluency has almost nothing to do with whether something is actually true, important, or valuable. It’s entirely about how easy it is to process.
And our brains are lazy. They prefer easy.
The Fluency Heuristic: When Easy = True
In the 1970s, psychologists discovered something unsettling: people rate statements as more likely to be true simply because they’re easier to read.
The same statement in different fonts:
Disfluent font: Osorno is in Chile (in hard-to-read, ornate script)
Fluent font: Osorno is in Chile (in clear, bold text)
The second feels more true, even though they’re identical statements. This is called the truth bias of cognitive fluency.
Our brains use processing ease as a proxy for truth:
- If it’s easy to understand, it’s probably right
- If it’s hard to understand, it’s probably wrong (or at least questionable)
This is why:
- Simple conspiracy theories spread faster than complex truths (“The government is lying” vs. “Regulatory capture occurs when agencies tasked with oversight develop relationships…”)
- Rhymes feel more truthful (“If the glove doesn’t fit, you must acquit” worked in part because it rhymed)
- Clear writing is more persuasive than complex writing, even when the complex version is more accurate
The Science of Sticky Stories
In Made to Stick, Chip and Dan Heath identified why some ideas thrive while others die. One of their core principles: Simple.
But “simple” doesn’t mean simplistic or dumbed-down. It means stripped to its essential core and presented with maximum fluency.
Let’s look at what creates cognitive fluency in storytelling:
1. Familiar Words, Fresh Ideas
Disfluent:
“The protagonist’s bildungsroman is fundamentally a meditation on postcolonial identity formation.”
Fluent:
“It’s a coming-of-age story about what it means to grow up between two cultures.”
Both describe the same book. The second uses familiar words (coming-of-age, grow up, two cultures) to convey the idea. It takes zero effort to parse.
The first requires the reader to:
- Know what “bildungsroman” means (or stop and look it up)
- Translate “meditation on identity formation” into concrete terms
- Understand “postcolonial” in this context
Each layer of difficulty increases disfluency and decreases the likelihood someone shares the idea.
The principle: Use the simplest word that accurately conveys the meaning. Save complex vocabulary for when simpler words genuinely can’t capture the nuance.
2. Short Sentences, Clear Structure
Disfluent:
“The reason that the economic system, despite its inherent inequalities and structural inefficiencies, continues to persist in maintaining its dominant paradigm is multifaceted and includes institutional inertia, regulatory capture, and the vested interests of those who benefit from the status quo.”
(One sentence. 42 words. Requires multiple re-reads.)
Fluent:
“Why does the system stay broken? Three reasons: institutions resist change, regulators are captured by industries, and powerful people benefit from keeping things as they are.”
(Three sentences. 26 words. Immediately clear.)
The second is cognitively fluent because:
- Shorter sentences are easier to hold in working memory
- Numbered lists create predictable structure
- Concrete terms (“powerful people”) are easier to visualize than abstract ones (“vested interests”)
The principle: One idea per sentence. Break complex thoughts into digestible chunks.
3. Concrete Over Abstract
Our brains process concrete images faster than abstract concepts.
Abstract (disfluent):
“Success requires persistent effort in the face of adversity.”
Concrete (fluent):
“Get knocked down seven times, stand up eight.”
The second creates an instant visual: someone falling, getting up, falling again. Your brain simulates the experience. The first is a collection of vague concepts that require translation into meaning.
The principle: If you can see it, hear it, touch it, or feel it, describe it that way. “She was angry” is abstract. “Her jaw clenched, and she spoke in clipped, quiet tones” is concrete.
4. Pattern and Rhythm
Fluent language has rhythm. Disfluent language stumbles.
Disfluent:
“We need to innovate and come up with creative solutions and think outside conventional paradigms.”
(Repetitive structure, clunky rhythm)
Fluent:
“Invent. Create. Reimagine.”
(Three parallel verbs. Rhythmic. Memorable.)
This is why great speeches use techniques like:
- Tricolon (groups of three): “Government of the people, by the people, for the people”
- Anaphora (repetition): “I have a dream… I have a dream…”
- Alliteration: “Veni, vidi, vici” (I came, I saw, I conquered)
These patterns don’t just sound good—they create processing ease, making ideas more fluent and thus more memorable and shareable.
The principle: Read your writing aloud. If you stumble, your reader will too. Smooth it out.
5. The Fluency of Story Structure
Narratives with clear structure are more fluent than those without.
Disfluent: A story that jumps between timelines without clear markers, introduces characters without context, and meanders without clear stakes.
Fluent: A story that follows a recognizable pattern (problem → struggle → resolution) with clear signposts (“Meanwhile…”, “Three days later…”, “But then…”).
This is why formulaic stories often outperform experimental ones commercially. Formulas are fluent. The audience knows how to process them with minimal effort.
Example: Marvel movies are extraordinarily fluent:
- Hero introduced with a flaw
- Hero faces a threat
- Hero struggles and fails
- Hero overcomes flaw and defeats threat
You always know where you are in the structure. It’s processing ease from start to finish.
The principle: If you’re going to break structural conventions, earn it. Make sure the payoff is worth the cognitive effort you’re demanding.
When Disfluency Works
Here’s the paradox: sometimes you want disfluency.
Research shows that moderate disfluency can:
- Increase retention: Information that requires effort to process is remembered better
- Signal seriousness: Dense, complex language can signal expertise (even if it shouldn’t)
- Create exclusivity: In-group jargon bonds communities by excluding outsiders
Strategic uses of disfluency:
1. For Deep Learning
If you want someone to truly understand something (not just nod along), moderate difficulty helps. This is why teachers use Socratic questioning—forcing students to struggle creates deeper encoding.
Example: A textbook that makes you work through proofs rather than just presenting formulas teaches better, even though it’s less fluent.
2. For Literary Fiction
Literary fiction often prizes beautiful, complex language. Readers self-select for willingness to engage with disfluency because they find the language itself rewarding.
Example: Nabokov’s prose is deliberately ornate. This filters the audience to those who appreciate linguistic craft.
3. For Signaling Expertise
In academic or professional contexts, complex language signals that you belong to the expert in-group. This is why legal documents, medical journals, and academic papers resist simplification—the disfluency is a feature, not a bug.
But be warned: This often backfires. Research shows that needlessly complex writing makes people doubt the writer’s intelligence, not admire it.
The Fluency Checklist for Storytellers
Before you publish anything, ask:
1. Word Level: Could a simpler word work?
- “Utilize” → “Use”
- “Facilitate” → “Help”
- “Instantiate” → “Create”
2. Sentence Level: Can you shorten it?
- If a sentence is over 25 words, consider breaking it into two
- Aim for variety: some short, some medium, very few long
3. Structure Level: Is the path clear?
- Does each paragraph have one main idea?
- Are transitions obvious?
- Can a skimmer follow the logic?
4. Story Level: Is the core idea simple?
- Can you state your premise in one sentence?
- If someone retells your story, will they get it right?
- Is there a clear through-line?
5. Visual Level: Is it easy to read?
- Short paragraphs (especially online)
- Bullet points and lists where appropriate
- Headers that guide the eye
Why Simple Stories Win
Here’s the brutal truth: most stories compete not against other stories, but against inertia and attention scarcity.
The question isn’t “Is this the most sophisticated way to say this?”
The question is “Will anyone bother to read, understand, remember, and share this?”
Cognitive fluency answers that question.
- Fluent stories spread because sharing them feels easy
- Fluent stories persuade because they feel true
- Fluent stories stick because they slot effortlessly into memory
This doesn’t mean sacrificing nuance or depth. It means making the path to that depth as frictionless as possible.
The Writer’s Dilemma
Here’s the tension: as writers, we often admire complexity. We love intricate sentences, obscure vocabulary, experimental structure. We prize difficulty because it signals seriousness.
But readers—especially modern readers overwhelmed by infinite content—need fluency.
The best writers balance both:
- Simple on the surface, deep underneath
- Easy to enter, rewarding to explore
- Accessible to all, resonant for those who look closer
Hemingway mastered this. His prose reads like a fourth-grader wrote it. But underneath the simple sentences are profound truths about violence, loss, and masculinity.
Pixar does this too. Kids watch for colorful characters and jokes. Adults watch for sophisticated themes about mortality, identity, and purpose.
Fluency is the invitation. Depth is what keeps them there.
Practical Takeaway
Take something you’ve written—an email, a story, a presentation. Now:
- Replace complex words with simple ones
- Cut every sentence in half
- Add concrete examples where you used abstract concepts
- Read it aloud and smooth any awkward rhythms
Then ask: “Is this easier to understand?”
If yes, you’ve increased fluency. And fluent stories don’t just survive—they spread.
Because in the war for attention, the easiest path wins.
Next in the series: The Three-Act Structure is a Lie (Sort Of) - When to break storytelling’s most sacred rule.