Leveraging Sentiment-Topic Analysis for Understanding the Psychological Role of Hype in Emerging Technologies-A Case Study of Electric Vehicles.

This study presents a novel approach to examining the psychological impact of emerging technologies through the development of a Hype Cycle Model (HCM), utilizing sentiment analysis and topic modeling. Focusing on electric vehicles, we investigate how public sentiment-captured via social media comments-reflects the psychological effects of technology adoption and hype. Our model integrates both qualitative and quantitative analyses, utilizing sentiment scoring and topic modeling to explore thematic psychological trends. An analysis of approximately 43,000 social media comments on electric vehicles demonstrated that the integration of expert knowledge with public sentiment provides a comprehensive understanding of technology hype dynamics. The results revealed that sentiment analysis enables real-time tracking of emotional responses to emerging technologies, while Correlated Topic Modeling (CTM) offers contextual insights into the positioning of technologies within the HCM. These findings demonstrate that understanding public sentiment towards emerging technologies can provide valuable insights for both organizations and policymakers in technology forecasting and adoption planning. Our approach transforms the traditional black box implementation by Gartner Inc. into a transparent framework that illuminates the psychological underpinnings of technology hype, revealing how collective excitement, expectations, and emotional responses shape the trajectory of emerging technology adoption.