So according to some research done by a Stanford psychologist, the things people post about restaurants in reviews on the internet have deep hidden meanings. Researchers found this out by studying trends in reviews of different kinds of restaurants. For example, positive reviews of cheap restaurants used metaphors about drugs and addiction, and the foods most likely to be described using drug analogies were pizza, burgers, sweets, and sushi. Bad reviews tended to refer not to the food but to the service, and women were more likely to compose "emotional" reviews than men. The main trend, however, was that "across multiple variables, online narratives reveal the reviewer's concern with face and the presentation of self", according to the researchers. These trends among others indicate trends in human thinking, and help scientists understand people as a unit.
I personally believe that online restaurant reviews are a relatively random way to collect information about people, but just the fact that we give so much away via the interwebs is interesting.
original article here.http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/april/food-review-language-041014.html
Byron Otis- Hmm. It says that sensual metaphors are often used for positive reviews of fancy restaurants, while drug metaphors are often used as metaphors for positive reviews of cheaper restaurants. I wonder if the former is influenced by the use of fancy restaurants as dating venues. Are they subconsciously associating the sexy dates with the good food? And perhaps people who frequent cheaper restaurants are more acquainted with drugs, and associate food with them more readily?
ReplyDeleteThat's really interesting. Sometimes you have to pay attention to what people aren't saying I guess.
ReplyDeleteHow strange. I think it's funny how people reveal so much about themselves subconsciously.
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