Subtle wording manipulations can significantly influence behavior. This paper explores differences in how people reply to empowering questions (e.g., “What could you do to exercise more?”) compared with disempowering questions (e.g., “Why aren’t you exercising more?”). Responding to two distinct topics (exercise and eating behavior), participants in empowering question conditions provided more solutions in their responses, placed more responsibility on themselves rather than on external factors, were more optimistic, and referred more to the future. Participants in disempowering conditions gave more excuses, placed more responsibility on situational factors, were more pessimistic, and centered more on obstacles.