Research Design Connection: Placebos Still Work
Research by Garvey, Germann and Bolton supports the placebo effect. They report that when people completed tasks using products that were promoted as enhancing performance on the tasks tested, their performance, objectively measured, was better than when exactly the same products were used to do the same tasks but not promoted as performance enhancing: “Five field and laboratory studies demonstrate that this performance brand effect emerges through psychological mechanisms unrelated to functional product differences, consistent with a placebo…this effect emerges only when there is an expectation that the performance branded product affects outcomes, consumers attribute gains to themselves. The performance brand placebo is due to a lowering of task-induced anxiety, driven by heightened state self-esteem.” “Performance” products tested included golf clubs and foam ear plugs, and enhanced performance was found with both physical and cognitive tasks. The effect found is not as strong when people are experts at the …
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