Feelings, Not Facts, Win in Most Decisions – By Far

“It’s hard to wake up this morning . . . and not feel like the truth doesn’t matter anymore.” These are sentiments about public discourse in a recent election, but they shine a light on a fact that guides a great deal of discourse about nutrition and obesity. Facts are always important, but feelings carry the day in most decisions we make. This includes scientists, policymakers, and really, all of us.

Smart marketing professionals know that both rational and emotional appeals are necessary for persuasive advertising. Discussing their research on this, Viktorija Grigaliunaite and Lina Pileliene write:

“Each contact with marketing stimuli creates an initial emotional response that then shapes our more considered reaction, meaning that consumers’ response to advertising is neither fully rational nor fully emotional; it tends to be rationalized based on our emotional reactions.”

In other words, people need facts to inform their choices, but feelings about those facts drive their decisions.

How Do We Feel About Ultra-Processed Foods?

If you have any doubt about the importance of emotional appeals in nutrition, stop and think about the intense public discourse about ultra-processed foods. The expert committee responsible for examining evidence for dietary guidelines has concluded that the evidence is insufficient to make broad recommendations about avoiding UPFs. Vocal activists are appalled. Says Dariush Mozaffarian, who believes food is medicine:

“Industry can do almost anything to food without proving it’s safe.

“It’s just an unfair fight from the start.”

Mozaffarian feels the rules are unfair and the food industry is doing bad things to us. Members of the expert committee feel sticking with scientific evidence is important. Feelings are strong on both sides of this controversy. Each side has “alternative” facts they lean upon. Typically, people are selective in the facts they value.

How Do We Feel About Obesity Care for Children?

For another example, you cannot find a more emotional subject that obesity care for children. When a committee of experts in pediatrics, health, and obesity issued new guidance to recommend consideration of all options for treating children with obesity, emotions poured out swiftly and intensely. “The new obesity guidelines for kids terrify me,” said one activist. A physician who cares for children with severe obesity replied that, without treatment, the complications of this disease are “scary.”

Yes, feelings inform our thoughts about the facts of obesity in children.

Listening

That brings us back to where we started. Yes, facts matter. But for making decisions, feelings about those facts are essential. We will continue to disagree about many things. Making progress toward common ground will require us to listen to the feelings other people have about the facts before us.

Click here for the research from Grigaliunaite and Pileliene and here for perspective on beliefs, facts, and truth.

Beauty Contest to the Memory of P.T. Barnum, painting by Florine Stettheimer / WikiArt

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November 10, 2024