Placebos Discussion

How can the exact same pill be half as effective as aspirin and half as effective as morphine?

Imagine we gave the same exact pill to everyone in the class. We told half of you it’s morphine and half of you it’s aspirin, the half that was told it was morphine would feel stronger effects even if in reality we actually gave everyone in the room flavorless tic tacs. Why?

Your expectations affect the strength of the response!

Why would a placebo for ulcers work better in Germany and a placebo for hypertension (AKA high blood pressure) work worse in Germany?

Probably Cultural beliefs. Maybe Germans as a group culturally think of stomach ulercs as something that can be easily cured while they think hypertension is something you inherit from your parents and therefore can’t as easily be fixed with medicine. If you believe something will work, it is more likely to work. Power of the mind.

MIT professor Dan Ariely conducted a study on placebos. He asked people to rate how they liked two beers, one was a Sam Adams and the other was a Sam Adams with balsamic vinegar. Most people preferred the Sam Adams with the balsamic vinegar. However when he told people beforehand that one contained balsamic vinegar, most people hated it.

Placebos in MarketingIs the design of the pill random or did some thought go into it?

Accounting for ALL variablesRead & Discuss…

Example 6.8 on page 275Example 6.9 on page 276Example 6.12 on page 280Example 6.13 on page 280Example 6.14 on page 281