Physicians are Powerless Pawns of Pharma Psychology

According to Harvard and Georgetown University ethicists and academics, "pharmaceutical and medical device companies apply social psychology to influence physicians’ prescribing behavior and decision-making." This is according to Sunita Sah and Adriane Fugh-Berman, authors of “Physicians Under the Influence: Social Psychology and Industry Marketing Strategies”, part of a symposium on institutional corruption and pharmaceutical policy in the forthcoming issue of the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 2013: Vol. 14 (3). "Physicians fail to recognize their vulnerability to commercial influences due to self-serving bias, rationalization, and cognitive dissonance," claim the authors. Moreover, the authors claim that "professionalism offers little protection; even the most conscious and genuine commitment to ethical behavior cannot eliminate unintentional, subconscious bias." The authors identify six "principles of influence" that are "key to the industry’s routine marketing strategies, which rely on the illusion that the industry is a generous avuncular partner to physicians":reciprocation,commitment,social proof,liking,authority, andscarcityBut resistance is NOT futile, say the authors. "In order to resist industry influence, physicians must accept that they are vulnerable to subconscious bias and have both the motivation and means to resist industry influence."Sounds like physicians need a 12-Step program to wean themselves off psychological dependence on pharma mark...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: key opinion leaders Physician Marketing Source Type: blogs