Psychology professor wins Nobel, er ... Ig Nobel

Princeton has been shut out of the Nobel Prize races so far this year, but one professor recently won a related award of only slightly less distinction.

Psychology professor Daniel Oppenheimer won the Ig Nobel Literature Prize awarded last week at Harvard University for a series of experiments in which he proved that using long words to impress an audience actually makes you look less intelligent.

The prizes are presented by Nobel laureates around the time the Nobel Prize winners are announced each year and are awarded to scholars who perform experiments that "make people laugh, and then make them think," according to the Annals of Improbable Research, the scientific humor journal that organizes the honors each year.

Oppenheimer — whose findings are published in the study "Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity: Problems with Using Long words Needlessly" — became the first Princeton professor to receive an Ig Nobel.

"I initially had mixed feelings [about winning]," Oppenheimer said. "It's always nice to have one's work recognized, but I tend to prefer that it be recognized for its scientific merit rather than its humor value. But the ceremony and process has been a lot of fun, and it's good that scientists can appreciate the lighter side of their research."

To prove his hypothesis, Oppenheimer took normal text from documents such as graduate school applications and sociology dissertation abstracts and substituted in either longer words or shorter words, judging to see whether the substitution of these words led to a higher processing of the text.

Oppenheimer also considered translations of foreign works, noting that many texts have translations that vary in complexity. Through investigation, the simpler translations were judged as having come from more intelligent authors.

In the last stage of his experiment, Oppenheimer manipulated the font in which a certain text was presented. Fonts that were easier to read were judged as being from more intelligent authors.

"Everyone has experienced the, er, phenomenon [of long words]," Marc Abrahams, editor of the Annals, said in an email. "But Professor Oppenheimer is the first person who extensively poked and probed and tested it. What he did makes people laugh, then makes them think."

While researching, Oppenheimer considered the relative ease with which people process information and what effect that ease has on their judgments. "Easy-to-process information is judged as better across a large range of dimensions," Oppenheimer said.

"To a general audience the research is fairly counterintuitive," Oppenheimer said. "Between two-thirds and three-fourths of students admit to trying to make their texts harder to read so as to give the impression of intelligence, which my research shows is a terrible strategy."

"Instead, the primary goal of a writer should be to be as clear as possible, and make reading the text as easy as possible for the reader," Oppenheimer added. "Occasionally, if simpler words aren't sufficient, this may entail using long words in order to get across specific meanings or subtle nuances."

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The recent award shouldn't come as a surprise to people who spend time with Oppenheimer, said psychology graduate student Chris Olivola.

"Professor Oppenheimer is very fun and lighthearted on the outside, and this can be very deceptive because when you really get to know him, he's a very sharp person," Olivola said.

Ten Ig Nobel prizes are awarded each year out of approximately 6,000 nominations.

The awards ceremony traditionally ends with the words, "If you didn't win a prize — and especially if you did — better luck next year!"