Kathleen Vohs has gained a national reputation as a researcher specializing in self-control (dieting, impulsive spending) and the effects of money on people’s behavior: Just touching money or even thinking about having it can numb emotional or physical pain, she and her co-authors found.
Research like that could have implications for reducing health care costs. Earlier this year, Vohs, an associate professor of marketing at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, was a guest speaker at “Ignite09: a Symposium on the Convergence of Behavioral Economics and Health Care.” She told her audience of human resource executives that where cost savings are concerned, the best way to get them might be not to push for them too hard.
Vohs says she drew her remarks from the two big conclusions that her research career has yielded: 1) that self-control is a limited commodity, and 2) that people’s perceptions change depending on how flush they feel financially.
“One of the main sticking points” in changing behavior, Vohs says, is that “exercising one form of self-control weakens the self-control we’re able to exercise later.” In other words, if you spent the day resisting an urge to eat the cookies on a co-worker’s desk, you’re more likely to succumb to road rage on the drive home.
The implication for wellness programs is to avoid what Vohs calls the New Year’s Resolution problem, “where you’re going to change everything at once.” Yes, a lot of people do need to stop smoking and lose weight, she says, “but focus on one thing at a time.”
As for the anesthetizing powers of money, Vohs says to keep its corollary in mind: If a feeling of abundance diminishes pain, a feeling of lack can intensify it.
Her advice to health plan managers is to de-emphasize what insurance and copayments cost and instead focus people’s attention on the benefits they’re getting. Her research doesn’t demonstrate this directly, Vohs says, but it could be that people worried about the expense of treatment are prone to developing more serious complaints, and heading for the ER instead of the doctor’s office.
