More is not less: greater information quantity does not diminish liking

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Cognitive Psychology
• Information Processing

Background:

• Previous research suggested liking decreases with increased information acquisition.
• The
• less-is-more
• hypothesis posits that more information leads to less liking.

Purpose of the Study:

• To test the
• less-is-more
• hypothesis against an information integration theory.
• To determine how the amount of information affects person perception and liking.

Main Methods:

• Computer simulations were used to model information integration.
• Two empirical studies involving person judgment were conducted.
• Bayesian analyses were employed to compare competing hypotheses.

Main Results:

• Evidence supported the information integration hypothesis over the
• less-is-more
• hypothesis.
• Liking was found to be more consistent with averaging all available trait information.
• The number of traits did not negatively correlate with liking as predicted by the "less-is-more" hypothesis.

Conclusions:

• Information integration theory provides a better framework for understanding person liking than the
• less-is-more
• hypothesis.
• People tend to integrate person information in an unbiased manner when forming judgments.
• The amount of information acquired does not necessarily decrease liking; rather, integration is key.