The New Self-Help

A Brain Trick to Make You More Creative, Intuitive, and Happy

How to make ‘cognitive ease’ work for you

This story is part of The New Self-Help: 21 Books for a Better You in the 21st Century.

Suppose you must write a message that you want the recipients to believe. Of course, your message will be true. But that’s not necessarily enough for people to believe that it is true. In a situation like this one, it would be totally reasonable to use cognitive ease in your favor.

Cognitive ease refers, quite simply, to the degree of mental effort required for a given task. Your brain registers “easy” as a sign that things are going well — no threats, no major news, no need to redirect attention or mobilize effort. Cognitive ease facilitates the brain’s “fast,” intuitive system for processing information, which aids in creative thinking, accurate intuition, and even a pleasant mood. Understanding how it works can help you leverage its effects — in others, and in yourself.

Repetition, familiarity, and good feelings

One way to induce cognitive ease is to create a sense of familiarity through repetition. The famed psychologist Robert Zajonc called it the “mere exposure effect.” A demonstration to test…