I agree completely - comfort and familiarity drive a lot of decisions, and why not? But the commenter said professionals choose things to make them feel special about themselves, as if seeking status in a psychological way, which is patently absurd.
I doubt @Ilkless means that's the conscious reason they are deciding on something, as if they were trying on clothes and seeing what what they looked best in, but rather that buying into the "story" about a brand is a very strong subconscious influence that also retroactively strengthens itself to justify the past decision.
I could be reading too much into him though...
I judge my own results in an entirely empirical, numbers-based way - sales. If certain gear in certain rooms makes more commercially attractive product, I'm all over it. Nothing to do with making myself feel special. That's the real difference between pro and domestic - in the pro world, stakes are high; at home, stakes are nonexistent.
Are you talking about final sales to the consumer? How could you possibly determine the cause of the sales?