I guess I'm confused about your use of the word "necessary".
But you're right. What is the motivation of the test-taker? How much are they trying to get the answers right and how much they want to "just get it over with"? At least part of the cognitive system is lazy/avoidant, but it doesn't seem that test-takers consciously think "I'll just write down the first answer that comes to mind".
But the real question is this: when they read the smaller text, do they feel less anxiety? Probably not. Then, maybe solving the problem requires less effort once you have spent more time at reading the question. But take a look at the CRT: to me, it seems that problems are clear any way you read them.
At least part of the cognitive system is lazy/avoidant, but it doesn't seem that test-takers consciously think "I'll just write down the first answer that comes to mind".
True, but it does tend -- if true -- to imply that the test-taker would have a desire of "minimize all extraneous functions".
Then, maybe solving the problem requires less effort once you have spent more time at reading the question.
My hypothesis here is that by making the font harder to read it's causing the test-takers to invest more cognition into properly rea...
I'm reading Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow and I've stopped on this:
This seems like an important finding, but I can't find references in the book (Kindle) or on the Web. Does anybody know any real evidence for this claim? EDIT: I found the original paper
Do you think that people could behave rationally with such a simple intervention?
simple intro to CRT
EDIT: fixed spelling in title