Do you use online ratings and reviews to decide which products and services to buy? Well, we just found out that those ratings may not always lead to the best choices.
Online reviews should be helping us make good decisions about what to spend our money on. However, they do help us make decisions — just not necessarily the best ones, according to a new study led by Derek Powell, PhD of Stanford University.
Specifically, the study reveals that we tend to buy a product that has more reviews than a product that has less, even if the product with more reviews has lower ratings. When given a choice between two products that have equally bad reviews, we’re still willing to buy the one with more reviews. Dr. Powell asked several hundred people to look at a series of cell phone cases, presented in pairs along with the average user rating and number of reviews for each case, and then indicated which they preferred. The result was that the participants tended to choose the case that had more reviews, rather than better reviews.
This herd-mentality is a function of social learning, the process by which new behaviors are learned through observing the behavior of others: “The Internet now provides social evidence on an unprecedented scale. However, properly adopting this evidence requires a capacity for statistical inference.”
“Consumers try to use information about other people’s experiences to make good choices, and retailers (零售商) have an motivation to channel consumers toward products they will be satisfied with,” Dr. Powell added. “Our data suggest that retailers might need to rethink how reviews are presented and consumers might need to do more to educate themselves about how to use reviews to guide their choices. That includes absorbing the idea that a larger number of reviews is not a reliable indicator of a product’s quality.
1.Which product do we intend to buy?
A. A product with more reviews and no ratings.
B. A product with fewer reviews and lower ratings.
C. A product with more reviews and lower ratings.
D. A product with fewer reviews and higher ratings.
2.According to the research, we will make a purchase after .
A. observing the behavior of other customers
B. analyzing statistics carefully
C. educating ourselves to use reviews properly
D. referring to our former experiences
3.What will Dr. Powell agree with?
A. No review is reliable when customers buy things online.
B. Customers should rethink the way reviews are shown.
C. The retailers should teach customers how to use reviews.
D. It is not wise to follow the crowd when customers make a purchase.
4.What’s the purpose of the passage?
A. To argue. B. To inform.
C. To persuade. D. To prove.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题
Do you use online ratings and reviews to decide which products and services to buy? Well, we just found out that those ratings may not always lead to the best choices.
Online reviews should be helping us make good decisions about what to spend our money on. However, they do help us make decisions — just not necessarily the best ones, according to a new study led by Derek Powell, PhD of Stanford University.
Specifically, the study reveals that we tend to buy a product that has more reviews than a product that has less, even if the product with more reviews has lower ratings. When given a choice between two products that have equally bad reviews, we’re still willing to buy the one with more reviews. Dr. Powell asked several hundred people to look at a series of cell phone cases, presented in pairs along with the average user rating and number of reviews for each case, and then indicated which they preferred. The result was that the participants tended to choose the case that had more reviews, rather than better reviews.
This herd-mentality is a function of social learning, the process by which new behaviors are learned through observing the behavior of others: “The Internet now provides social evidence on an unprecedented scale. However, properly adopting this evidence requires a capacity for statistical inference.”
“Consumers try to use information about other people’s experiences to make good choices, and retailers (零售商) have an motivation to channel consumers toward products they will be satisfied with,” Dr. Powell added. “Our data suggest that retailers might need to rethink how reviews are presented and consumers might need to do more to educate themselves about how to use reviews to guide their choices. That includes absorbing the idea that a larger number of reviews is not a reliable indicator of a product’s quality.
1.Which product do we intend to buy?
A. A product with more reviews and no ratings.
B. A product with fewer reviews and lower ratings.
C. A product with more reviews and lower ratings.
D. A product with fewer reviews and higher ratings.
2.According to the research, we will make a purchase after .
A. observing the behavior of other customers
B. analyzing statistics carefully
C. educating ourselves to use reviews properly
D. referring to our former experiences
3.What will Dr. Powell agree with?
A. No review is reliable when customers buy things online.
B. Customers should rethink the way reviews are shown.
C. The retailers should teach customers how to use reviews.
D. It is not wise to follow the crowd when customers make a purchase.
4.What’s the purpose of the passage?
A. To argue. B. To inform.
C. To persuade. D. To prove.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Do you ever find yourself spending time on product reviews when you buy something online, only to find that the product you bought is junk(废物)? New research led by Dr. Powell of Stanford University may explain why this happens: it boils down to the number of reviews a product has.
The study found that when choosing between two products online, people tend to favor the one with more reviews despite the fact that the more reviewed product is of lower quality. This is because when shopping online, consumers engage(从事)in a type of “social learning”, where they learn from observing the decisions of other people and the results of those decisions. People attach more importance to the choices of others. When evaluating online products, the item’s rating and number of reviews can be helpful to an unsure customer. But a new study, published in the journal Psychological Science, found that consumers don’t check those figures to learn their true meaning enough. So they fail to do a simple task when viewing online rating and reviews, leading them to purchase products of poor quality. When shopping online, consumers engaging in social learning become informed from the decisions of others. For example, you’re more likely to buy a book at the top of the New York Times’ best-sellers list or buy an app that’s been downloaded millions of times. But looking at other people’s choices is only a part of social learning. However, how people understand or fail to understand this data is affecting their decision-making in a negative way. Overcoming this bias(偏见)is difficult because consumers find comfort in popularity.
Powell and his colleagues also found evidence of this trend beyond the study. “It doesn’t necessarily mean that better things don’t become more popular, but as a consumer, when you’re looking at the number of reviews, it’s not telling you anything,” said Dr. Powell.
1.What does the underlined phrase “boils down to” probably mean?
A. is equal to B. results in C. is due to D. focuses on
2.What belief do unsure consumers hold when purchasing products?
A. Rating determines quality. B. Popularity is good.
C. Bad reviews should be ignored. D. More-reviewed products is poor.
3.What do Dr. Powell’s words mean in the last paragraph?
A. The product’s rating often fails to reflect true quality.
B. Usually consumers will find much comfort in popularity.
C. Consumers should distinguish good things and bad things.
D. Consumers should follow others when buying things online.
4.What is probably the best title of the text?
A. How to Purchase Online B. Why We Buy Junk Online
C. Why We Ignore Bad Reviews D. How to Review a Product
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Do you read reviews after you see a movie? I use to do that, but I usually regretted. I read so much about a movie on advance that I often ended up not go to see it at all. The writers point out everything that is wrong with the film, but seldom mentions anything good about one. They also tell many things and even the ending of the movie. Lately I have changed way I choose movies to watch. I read reviews afterwards if necessary. What is very importance to me is that I don’t watch
the talk shows in that people discuss movies. And I don’t ask other people how they like of it. Now, I enjoy myself even more.
高三英语短文改错中等难度题查看答案及解析
短文改错
Do you read reviews after you see a movie? I use to do that, but I usually regretted. I read so much about a movie on advance that I often ended up not go to see it at all. The writers point out everything that is wrong with the film, but seldom mentions anything good about one. They also tell many things and even the ending of the movie. Lately I have changed way I choose movies to watch. I read reviews afterwards if necessary. What is very importance to me is that I don’t watch the talk shows in that people discuss movies. And I don’t ask other people how they like of it. Now, I enjoy myself even more.
高三英语短文改错中等难度题查看答案及解析
第一节:短文改错 (共10分;每小题1分,满分10分)
Do you read reviews after you see a movie? I use to do that, but I usually regretted. I read so much about a movie on advance that I often ended up not go to see it at all. The writers point out everything that is wrong with the film, but seldom mentions anything good about one. They also tell many things and even the ending of the movie. Lately I have changed way I choose movies to watch. I read reviews afterwards if necessary. What is very importance to me is that I don’t watch the talk shows in that people discuss movies. And I don’t ask other people how they like of it. Now, I enjoy myself even more.
改错:
高三英语短文改错中等难度题查看答案及解析
----Many online games are full of violence, which do harm to the development of the children.
----And that’s _______ my concern lies.
A. what B. which C. where D. that
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
----Many online games are full of violence, which do harm to the development of the children.
----And that’s _______ my concern lies.
A.what B.which C.where D.that
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
一Do you know why Chris decided to leave the company?
一He held out for higher wages,which were_____ in the end.
A.put away B.broken down C.broken away D.turned down
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
The police officers decided to conduct a thorough and ______ review of the case.
A. comprehensive B. complicated
C. conscious D. constant
高三英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析
The police officers decided to conduct a thorough and _______ review of the case.
A. comprehensive B. complicated
C. conscious D. crucial
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析