Less is often more, but not always: additional evidence that familiarity breeds contempt and a call for future research.

Ullrich, Krueger, Brod, and Groschupf (2013)-using a replication of the trait paradigm from Norton, Frost, and Ariely (2007)-suggest that less information does not always equal greater liking. We first ground the current debate in a larger historical debate in social psychology regarding the merits of configural versus algebraic models of person perception. We next review (a) related research that has suggested that more information can in some cases lead to more liking and (b) a large body of "real world" data-from friendships, daters, married couples, employment, celebrities, and politics-that suggests that more information often leads to less liking. We then provide an additional replication of our "less is more" effect, using a slight variation of the trait-list paradigm. The existing data suggest a need for further integrative explorations of when familiarity leads to contempt or liking or has no effect.

Duke Scholars

Author Dan Ariely Fuqua School of Business