RESEARCH ON THE PLACEBO EFFECT.

RESEARCH ON THE PLACEBO EFFECT. I posted here about the placebo effect, which is important, but as far I can tell, little studied. What are the factors that determine the strength of the placebo effect? Dan Ariely (whose behavioral research I posted on here) did an experiment which suggests that the perceived value of the placebo may be one such factor, as reported by Michael Skapinker in the March 11 Financial Times. Ariely administered electric shocks to volunteers and offered free pain killers to them before and after. If the volunteers were told that the placebos were worth $2.50, 85% of them were helped; if the placebos were thought to be worth ten cents, 61% were helped. Skapinker points out that what is remarkable is just how effective the placebos were (reducing pain more than sixty per cent of the time).