PowerPoint® Presentation Flaws and Failures: A Psychological Analysis

Abstract

Electronic slideshow presentations are often faulted anecdotally, but little empirical work has documented their faults. In Study 1 we found that eight psychological principles are often violated in PowerPoint® slideshows, and are violated to similar extents across different fields – for example, academic research slideshows generally were no better or worse than business slideshows. In Study 2 we found that respondents reported having noticed, and having been annoyed by, specific problems in presentations arising from violations of particular psychological principles. Finally, in Study 3 we showed that observers are not highly accurate in recognizing when particular slides violated a specific psychological rule. Furthermore, even when they correctly identified the violation, they often could not explain the nature of the problem. In sum, the psychological foundations for effective slideshow presentation design are neither obvious nor necessarily intuitive, and presentation designers in all fields, from education to business to government, could benefit from explicit instruction in relevant aspects of psychology.

Demonstration-based training (DBT) in the design of a video tutorial for software training

“…Working memory is limited in the information it can retain and process (Baddeley, 2007), which should prompt designers to include instructional measures that can reduce processing load. Kosslyn et al (2012) proposed the principles of limited capacity and informative change, and suggested corollary design measures for each. The first principle states that users are restricted in how much information they can retain and process.…”

“…In contrast, there is considerable research on visuals that can draw attention. Features that can affect the selection of attention are color, sudden appearance and movement (e.g., de Koning et al 2009;Jamet 2014;Kosslyn et al 2012). More generally, large perceptible differences draw attention (e.g., drawing a red circle around a key object from an interface).…”

Electronic Slideshow Presentations in the Higher Education Teaching and Learning Process

“…Several studies point to possible disadvantages, at various levels, of the use of ESP (in particular Schoeman, 2013;Hill et al, 2012;Naik, 2017;Inoue-Smith, 2016;Pros & Tarrida, 2017;Kosslyn et al, 2012;Inoue-Smith, 2015), summarised below: -excessive reading of the slides; -over-simplification of the contents; -higher importance ascribed to short-term memorisation rather than the understanding of contents; -excessive dependence on technological conditions (if something cannot be slide-shown it can be very difficult to continue with the teaching process); -little interaction with students; -limited discussion with students on the subjects addressed; -passivity on the part of students; -dependence on slides on the part of students;…”

“…This pedagogical practice of "traditional powerpoint dominated lecturing" (Wharton, Goodwin, & Cameron, 2014, p. 72) seems to meet, in general, the expectations of many teachers and students (Savoy, Proctor, & Salvendy, 2009;Hill et al, 2012;Inoue-Smith, 2016;Kosslyn et al, 2012), which justifies, to a large extent, its use in what has been called by Hill et al (2012) "PowerPoint culture": "The software's ubiquity, popularity with students, and instructors' perceptions of student expectations speak to a growing PowerPoint culture in the university -It has become a normative feature of academic instruction" (p. 253).…”

“…In the context of application of this teaching model, there is currently some generalisation of the use of electronic slideshow presentations (ESP) in higher education classes, especially in the form of a PowerPoint slideshow or, more recently, in Prezi (Inoue-Smith, 2016;Naik, 2017;Chou, Chang, & Lu, 2015;Babbs & Ross, 2009;Tejada-Llacsa & Cahuana-Aparco, 2016;Worthington & Levasseur, 2015;Schoeman, 2013;Hill, Arford, Lubitow, & Smollin, 2012;Kosslyn, Kievit, Russell, & Shephard, 2012;Garrett, 2016), although there is no unanimity regarding the merits of this software (Inoue-Smith, 2016;Pros & Tarrida, 2017;Moulton et al, 2017). This article addresses presentations in both PowerPoint and Prezi, given that there seem to be no clear and undeniable advantages in terms of learning using one or the other program (Chou et al, 2015;Moulton et al, 2017), although there is a clear dominance of PowerPoint use (Garrett, 2016).…”