Placebos vrs Placebos - costly one WINS.
2 posters
Page 1 of 1
Placebos vrs Placebos - costly one WINS.
by SamCogar Fri Mar 07, 2008 6:05 am
Volunteers who were given a placebo said to cost $2.50 per pill and described as a “potent opioid-agonist that provides fast-acting, long lasting relief” were much more likely to report pain relief than those given a placebo described as a discounted ten-cent version of the same pill. The study is published as a research letter in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association.
“Placebos work because people expect them to,” said Dan Ariely, the corresponding author of the paper, a professor of behavioral economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. “The interesting thing is that once you have a discounted price, it basically cuts people’s expectations. They don’t expect it to be as good, and then it might actually not be as good.”
The study, carried out in Boston, included 82 paid volunteers. All of the volunteers were told about a new drug that had recently been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, but half were told the drug was regularly priced, while the other half were told it had been discounted.
The volunteers were then administered a series of mild electrical shocks that were calibrated to their individual level of pain tolerance. The shocks were administered before the volunteers took the pills and again afterward, and the changes in the subjects’ responses were recorded.
‘Expectations are key’
Although the pills were actually placebos consisting of no more than vitamin C, 85 percent of the volunteers who thought they were taking the higher priced painkillers experienced a reduction in pain, compared with only 61 percent of those taking what they thought were discounted pills.
“Placebos work because people expect them to,” said Dan Ariely, the corresponding author of the paper, a professor of behavioral economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. “The interesting thing is that once you have a discounted price, it basically cuts people’s expectations. They don’t expect it to be as good, and then it might actually not be as good.”
The study, carried out in Boston, included 82 paid volunteers. All of the volunteers were told about a new drug that had recently been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, but half were told the drug was regularly priced, while the other half were told it had been discounted.
The volunteers were then administered a series of mild electrical shocks that were calibrated to their individual level of pain tolerance. The shocks were administered before the volunteers took the pills and again afterward, and the changes in the subjects’ responses were recorded.
‘Expectations are key’
Although the pills were actually placebos consisting of no more than vitamin C, 85 percent of the volunteers who thought they were taking the higher priced painkillers experienced a reduction in pain, compared with only 61 percent of those taking what they thought were discounted pills.
SamCogar- Number of posts : 6238
Location : Burnsville, WV
Registration date : 2007-12-28
Re: Placebos vrs Placebos - costly one WINS.
by Aaron Fri Mar 07, 2008 8:38 am
I watched a re-run of an old Mash episode where Klinger was given a top secret pill that cools the body so he was wearing long sleeve shirts druing a heat wave.
Aaron- Number of posts : 9841
Age : 58
Location : Putnam County for now
Registration date : 2007-12-28
Similar topics» It's too costly, so why would you want a job.
» A costly queer relationship
» WVU wins
» Huckabee wins big
» A costly queer relationship
» WVU wins
» Huckabee wins big
Page 1 of 1
Permissions in this forum:
You cannot reply to topics in this forum