chain reproduction
in social and cultural psychology, the process by which material (e.g., ideas or stories) is relayed from person to person or group to group and altered slightly at each stage of transmission. In group exercises based on this process, the ultimate product can be compared with the original in order to show, for example, that a description of a cat has gradually become that of a lion. The same type of distortion occurs in the passing on of rumors and gossip through the processes of leveling (simplification), sharpening (emphasis on selected details), and assimilation (altering the accounts to suit attitudes, expectations, and prejudices).