The placebo effect is a familiar word, right? Anyone has ever heard this phrase and probably knows what it is. Therefore, I will not describe in detail this fascinating psychological effect, but I will give beautiful examples of its action.
Example 1
I have a friend who is an aging doctor. One of his friends was then working as a lathe operator at some factory. Various parts were made from nuts and screws to huge iron pancakes (disks). And so the doctor's friend decided to play a trick on his fellow in the shop. He made some ordinary metal discs and a single plastic one. It was this final plastic pancake that decided to launch a joker at his replacement. And, imagine, the replacement died! A light plastic disc slightly touched his head, but the very sight, the very fact of the flying disc, ruined the man. The fact is that the "humorist" painted the plastic product so that it looked like a real metal one. This means that the joker's friend was sure that an iron pancake weighing ten kilograms was flying at him … It was from this thought, from this confidence that he died. Moreover, it turned outthat there were changes in his body, as if a piece of iron had really fallen on the poor man's head. Roughly speaking, there was a deep dent on the head.
Example 2
In the Middle Ages, it was popular to carry out terrible experiments on the part of the execution of dissidents. In one such experiment, a hundred people sentenced to death were forced to swallow something, saying it was poison. The poor fellows drank the "poison", the sentences were read … But … the pills turned out to be from ordinary chalk! The entire executed hundred, having eaten chalk, successfully died only from the thought that it was poison. It soon became clear that a substance was found in the bodies of the executed, as if they had been poisoned by fly agarics. That is, the pancreas itself produced these poisons at the right time.
Another poor fellow was sentenced to chop off his head. When, at the end of all the rituals, they took him to the scaffold, the condemned was blindfolded, but instead of chopping off his head, they passed an ordinary feather (bird's) down his throat and poured warm water around his neck (as if blood was pouring). And what do you think, the poor fellow also died, as if from blood loss, although the executioner only ran a feather down his throat and poured water. So the expectation of an imminent death affected the executed.
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Well, dear readers, I scared you! All! Enough! And the placebo result will seem creepy! Let's talk about pleasant things!
Example 3
Two centuries ago, in one clinic for tuberculosis patients in Germany, an experiment was conducted: the patients were told for a month that a new sensational drug for their disease had been discovered. We talked about this constantly, a lot, persistently, describing the chances of recovery in colors.
And now, a month has passed. The patients were told that the miracle cure would be brought to the hospital from minute to minute and distributed to them.
The pills were distributed, all patients began to take them, and … an amazing effect! Eighty percent recovered! Where is the placebo? And I deliberately forgot to say that this miracle cure was simple aspirin! That is, the patients were cured by the very expectation of a miracle, the very hope for it!
Example 4
Fast forward to the USA in the fifties. Another experiment was conducted there. A hundred subjects were selected, one hundred adults. Half of them were told that they would receive a medicine, taking which they would feel a surge of strength, joy, and an increase in mood.
The other half of the subjects were told that they would receive pills, taking which, they would feel lazy and tired.
You guessed it, all 100 subjects were given the same pills … for a cough! The trick is this: when the "experimental hundred" were asked about their health later, after taking the medicine, everyone answered in accordance with the instructions and with their expectations. Half said that the pills gave them strength, joy, for the whole day, and the second part of the hundred said that after taking the pills, they fell asleep!
The common thing in these examples is that in all cases people expected something definite, they were told the further course of events, and they reacted accordingly.
Of course, there are people who are not affected by this effect. They defy suggestion, persuasion, expectation.