If it's hard to read, is it hard to do?
This university news record reproduces the abstract of the study by Song and Schwarz. People are more likely to engage in a behaviour the less effort it requires, and high perceived effort is a major obstacle to behaviour change, from exercise to diet. Little is known about how people estimate the effort of a novel behaviour, and the study tests whether they infer it from how easy the instructions are to read.
This university news record reproduces the abstract of the study by Song and Schwarz. People are more likely to engage in a behaviour the less effort it requires, and high perceived effort is a major obstacle to behaviour change, from exercise to diet. Little is known about how people estimate the effort of a novel behaviour, and the study tests whether they infer it from how easy the instructions are to read.
Written from the abstract as shown on the OpenAlex record, read 2026-11-04.
What our sources record
Recorded when this source was checked, figures included, with page references and quotation marks removed.
News release on Song and Schwarz (2008); the design and qualitative results are taken from this account, which gives no sample sizes. https://news.umich.edu/if-its-hard-to-read-is-it-hard-to-do