Nerdy notes...

SSIB 2026: Beyond Liking: What Potato Chip Reviews Can Teach Us About Ingestive Behavior (conference poster)

Can thousands of everyday consumer reviews reveal the behavioral mechanisms behind real-world food choices?

Using Behavioral Topic Mapping, we analyzed Amazon chip reviews to move beyond preference and uncover how sensory experiences, habits, emotions, and context shape snack consumption.

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Everything Has a Formula

Behavioral mechanisms are explanations.

Once you begin looking for those mechanisms, something interesting happens. You stop asking what consumers said and start asking what generated those experiences in the first place.

That's where innovation becomes much more interesting.

Because once you understand the mechanism, you aren't limited to solving today's problem. You can begin anticipating tomorrow's.

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What Is Behavioral Topic Mapping?

Trend reports tell us what consumers are talking about today, but not necessarily where behavior is headed tomorrow. Learn how Behavioral Topic Mapping combines behavioral science and AI-assisted pattern recognition to uncover the motivations, tensions, and unmet needs that connect seemingly unrelated consumer trends.

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How Understanding Cognitive Dissonance Can Help Us Get What Really Drives Consumer Choices

When it comes to consumer packaged goods (CPG), figuring out what drives people to pick one product over another can be a tough nut to crack. We know things like taste, branding, and convenience play a big role, but there’s another layer that often gets overlooked—cognitive dissonance.

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