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2009
Fact based choice—third in a series on choice in healthcare
Jonah Lehrer’s recent book, How We Decide pops open our craniums to see what’s going on in everyday and life threatening situations. His insights are astonishing. It seems that our decision processes are heavily dependent on how we use or fail to use emotion. In adrenaline filled crises situations emotions need to be quieted, while everyday situations, emotions need to be heard. Without emotions, deciding what color shirt or blouse to wear could take hours. Instead of simply liking blue, we would have to consider every aspect of our day, including the kinds of light we’ll be in and possible food colors that could accidentally splatter on us while eating lunch. Without emotions we would be overwhelmed by the constant quest for data and unable to function.
It’s ironic that hospital-ranking data is often used in marketing campaigns, yet it’s the emotional connections that differentiate products and services. Consumer advertising learned long ago that emotion sells products, not facts. Apple doesn’t’ sell their products based on how many gigabytes they hold. Instead they promise wonderment by experience.
While there’s a universal appeal to knowing and using facts, facts by themselves are an easy way to make a product or service less memorable. It’s a great strategy for JD Powers and US World Report, but is it helping hospitals gain long-term mind and market share?
