> In one placebo group, people were told by a friendly, trustworthy, and empathetic researcher that the videos had a physiological impact that activated “early conditioned emotional schemata through the color green.”
> “It was a fake idea, a fake rationale behind it,” Gaab said. “And it worked, people loved it.” It worked as well as a group psychotherapy treatment Gaab and his colleagues used with study subjects a few years earlier.
Were people explicitly told that it was a fake idea at the outset, and went along with the ruse?
Can I buy sugar pills and tell myself “these pills will help with problem X” and have an expectation that they will work? Or do I need to receive “Problem X pills” from some authority in order to see a placebo effect?
I had always assumed that a key component of the placebo effect is not knowing whether you’re receiving the treatment or the control.
> Can I buy sugar pills and tell myself “these pills will help with problem X” and have an expectation that they will work?
I've been told that this is the basis for magic, and that the answer is yes. Better still is to come up with a ritual that transforms them into problem-X pills, something symbolic of problem X. With practice, your magic might even become stronger (because you have prior experiences that make you believe).
> “It was a fake idea, a fake rationale behind it,” Gaab said. “And it worked, people loved it.” It worked as well as a group psychotherapy treatment Gaab and his colleagues used with study subjects a few years earlier.
Were people explicitly told that it was a fake idea at the outset, and went along with the ruse?
Can I buy sugar pills and tell myself “these pills will help with problem X” and have an expectation that they will work? Or do I need to receive “Problem X pills” from some authority in order to see a placebo effect?
I had always assumed that a key component of the placebo effect is not knowing whether you’re receiving the treatment or the control.