Hospital patients rate their pain on a scale of 1–10. Teachers grade on a curve. Sports fans spend hours debating stats on their favorite teams. Even the most ardent language lover can’t deny the power of numbers to convey information, especially when choices need to be made.

A new study from Wharton finds that people have a strong preference for numbers over words or graphical representations of the same information in decision-making—a phenomenon that researchers call “quantification fixation.”

Across 21 experiments, quantitative attributes consistently crowded out qualitative ones like star ratings, bar charts, and verbal descriptions when participants were asked to make comparative judgments on everything from planning a vacation to picking a job candidate. The results indicate a natural bias toward numbers that can have repercussions for decision-making in management, policy, consumer behavior, personal finance, and other vital topics.

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