Critically Evaluate the Extent to Which the Placebo Effect Is Just a Nuisance Variable to Be Controlled

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Critically evaluate the extent to which the placebo effect is just a nuisance variable to be controlled The placebo effect is a simulated or a useless treatment for a medical or mental condition which deceives the patient into thinking it is curing them. Usually, these patients will find their health and wellbeing will improve over time, whether it actually does or they just perceive it doesn’t matter, this is called the placebo effect. Common examples of placebos are sugar pills, homeopathy and ‘psychic surgery’. While it sounds as if the deception is the cause of the patient’s improved health, it has been shown that placebos can have a positive effect on a patient who knows they are being given a placebo, when compared with a control group who received a placebo but were not informed of the deception (Kaptchuk TJ, Friedlander E, Kelley JM, et al, 2010). The most common procedure for using a placebo is when a patient is given a useless pill and is told that the pill will improve their condition. The patient’s belief that this pill will improve their condition could produce a sort of therapeutic effect, which in turn can actually cause an improvement in their condition, perceived or actual. This type of application of the placebo effect is the one used by most psychologists when studying its importance. As for whether it should be treated as an extraneous variable, many people are of the belief that the placebo effect has a very important role to play when studying psychology. Hrobjartsson (2003) believes that the placebo effect is a phenomenon that will always be around, no matter how it mutates. And even back in 1972, when the placebo effect was first being recognised after trials in the 1950s and 1960s, Archie Cochrane, one of the leading researchers into the field of placebos and their effects, stated “It is important to distinguish the very respectable,

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