Rosenstock holds that the potential patient believes his health might be in jeopardy, even though he doesn't have symptoms. The patient thinks that he might have a disease and this notion itself creates discomfort, prompting him to seek treatment.
The real issue is the imagination whereby the potential patient imagines the potential discomfort associated with having this disease that she may or may not have. This is the second mode of incentive that brings people to treatment.
Given this active imagination, the potential patient then reasons with herself: Are the costs and discomfort of going to the doctor and dealing with tests and other unpleasantries worth the benefits? The benefits are either peace of mind ("I do not have the disease") or treatment ("I have the disease but I am doing something about it").
The potential patient then has that one last push, that one last impetus that has the potential patient make the call to the doctor's office or ER. This could be a television show showing diseased people, a minor ache or pain or even gossip about sick neighbors.
The specific case presented here of going to the doctor is a model of social learning. This can be seen in numerous ways: First, diseases and their effects are regularly part of the entertainment media and social discourse in most countries. Images of very sick people can be found everywhere. Second, sickness and pain are considered the worst situations in life. Pain is always a bad thing and needs to be avoided, whereas comfort is always a good thing. Third, this model is "self-efficacious." In other words, the patient feels empowered that he has "taken charge" of his health and life, something considered a virtue and a sign of strength. Therefore, it is clear that this mode of health-related decision making created by Rosenstock is a form of social learning in which images and ideas deriving from those images are central in making decisions concerning medical treatment. Actual reason and logical analysis are a minor part of the equation.