This study explores the relationship between clout and cognitive processing in posts from massive open online courses (MOOCs) discussion forums. Clout, a summary variable from the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) tool, indicates the level of confidence in text but lacks transparency regarding its calculation. The study examined how cognitive processing—comprised of insight, causation, discrepancy, tentativeness, certainty, and differentiation—relates to clout scores, considering factors like gender, degree, type of post, and course pacing (self-paced vs. instructor-paced). Linear mixed models revealed that words indicating discrepancy, certainty, or differentiation were negatively associated with clout scores.