Communicating beyond the information given can make the communicator's attitudes toward a social group more extreme.

Abstract

Three experiments tested how communicating attributes of initially liked or disliked groups might create more extreme attitudes. We gave non-neutral participants information about previously unknown groups and asked them to write social media posts describing the group to others. Participants who wrote social media posts to friends (Experiment 1, n = 332) or undecided strangers (Experiments 2 and 3, ns = 113 and 816) exaggerated and elaborated on initial information, subsequently reporting more extreme attitudes. These effects, mediated by extremity of associations to the target group, were interpreted as consistent with theory and research on going beyond the information given. (100 words).