Wary consumers can be convinced to allow AI into their healthcare habits by communications campaigns tuned to the ancient rhetorical categories of ethos, pathos and logos, according to a study published March 13 in the Journal of Medical Internet Research [1].
Independent healthcare cybersecurity expert George Jackson Jr., PhD, and colleagues reported the findings after testing the classical persuasion concepts in display-type advertisements.
Co-authors included Glorin Sebastian, MBA, of Google and Amrita George, PhD, of Georgia State University.
The team tried the experimental ads on 150 participants using Amazon Mechanical Turk crowdsourcing platform, randomly exposing the subjects to various samples of rhetoric-based messaging.
In Aristotle’s conception, winning arguments tend to be made by appealing the hearer’s desire for authoritativeness (ethos), emotional connection (ethos) and/or logical soundness (logos).
Surveying the field to evaluate the ads’ persuasiveness going by five actionable measures—trust, positive novelty value, customer innovativeness, privacy concerns and likely AI adoption—the researchers found pathos-driven promotions improved AI product adoption by boosting participants’ trust as well as their appreciation for the product’s value as a worthwhile novelty.
Meanwhile ethos-emphasizing promotions improved AI product adoption by alleviating distrust and prodding participants’ desire to see themselves as innovative.
In their study discussion, the authors state the research “makes a substantial practical contribution by making both healthcare AI product manufacturers and clinicians aware of [the benefits of] structuring their communication with patients to persuade them to adopt the AI product that can be beneficial to the practitioner and patient.”
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The increased adoption of AI in the U.S. health sector would be a major advantage from both efficiency and cost perspectives, resulting in improved patient well-being. Thus, although health AI would not fully replace human clinicians, increased adoption of AI aided by appropriate communication strategies would result in reduced cost and better affordability of health services by end users.”
The authors suggest their research is suitable for finetuning communication campaigns aimed at boosting AI adoption while allaying concerns about the technology’s use in healthcare.
The study is posted in full for free.
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.