Understanding Social Influence in Collective Product Ratings Using Behavioral and Cognitive Metrics

Online platforms commonly collect and display user-generated information to support subsequent users’ decision-making. However, studies have noticed that presenting collective information can pose social influences on individuals’ opinions and alter their preferences accordingly. It is essential to deepen understanding of people’s preferences when exposed to others’ opinions and the underlying cognitive mechanisms to address potential biases. Hence, we conducted a laboratory study to investigate how products’ ratings and reviews influence participants’ stated preferences and cognitive responses assessed by their Electroencephalography (EEG) signals. The results showed that social ratings and reviews could alter participants’ preferences and affect their status of attention, working memory, and emotion. We further conducted predictive analyses to show that participants’ Electroencephalography-based measures can achieve higher power than behavioral measures to discriminate how collective information is displayed to users. We discuss the design implications informed by the results to shed light on the design of collective rating systems.