Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

The Placebo Effect

The Placebo Effect

The placebo effect occurs when people's expectations or beliefs influence or determine their experience in a given situation. In other words, simply expecting something to happen can actually make it happen.

Blind Procedures

Blind Procedures

Ideally, the people who observe and record the children’s behavior are unaware of who was assigned to the experimental or control group, in order to control for experimenter bias. Experimenter bias refers to the possibility that a researcher’s expectations might skew the results of the study. Remember, conducting an experiment requires a lot of planning, and the people involved in the research project have a vested interest in supporting their hypotheses. If the observers knew which child was...

Unrealistic Optimism Bias

Unrealistic Optimism Bias

Unrealistic optimism bias is the tendency to overestimate the likelihood of positive outcomes. This cognitive bias makes individuals believe they are less likely to experience failures, setbacks, or risks and more likely to succeed than others. For example, people may assume they are less prone to health issues, accidents, or financial struggles than their peers, even when they share similar risk factors.One key component of this bias is the above-average effect, where individuals perceive...

Analgesia and Pain Management

Analgesia and Pain Management

Pain is critical to various clinical pathologies, provoking an urgent need for effective management. Pain, whether acute or chronic, is a complex neurochemical process. Its alleviation depends on the type, with nonopioid analgesics effective for mild to moderate pain, such as musculoskeletal or inflammatory pain, while neuropathic pain responds best to anticonvulsants, tricyclic antidepressants, or serotonin/norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors. For severe acute or chronic pain, opioids may be...

Blinding

Blinding

Blinding is a commonly used method of not telling participants which treatment a subject is receiving. Blinding is a critical part of a randomized control trial or RCT. It reduces the bias that affects the results. In an RCT, blinding is used in the form of a placebo. A placebo effect occurs when untreated subjects falsely believe they have received the treatment and report improved symptoms. A placebo or a dummy treatment is administered to subjects to negate the bias caused by such an effect.

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Minimizing nocebo side effects in health care: The unrecognized role of patient involvement.

Patient education and counseling·2026

Same author

Pain Resilience and Catastrophizing as Mediators of Pain Intensity and Outcomes.

Pain management nursing : official journal of the American Society of Pain Management Nurses·2026

Same author

Nocebo education and the pursuit of side-effect information: results from three experiments.

Psychology & health·2026

Same author

The Effects of Virtual Immersive Gaming to Optimize Recovery (VIGOR) in Low Back Pain: A Phase II Randomized Controlled Trial.

Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland)·2026

Same author

Test-related psychological responses and quadriceps neuromuscular outcomes in people with and without patellofemoral pain.

Physical therapy in sport : official journal of the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Sports Medicine·2025

Same author

The COVID-19 pandemic: a special case of placebo and nocebo effects.

Handbook of clinical neurology·2025

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 11, 2026

How to Study Placebo Responses in Motion Sickness with a Rotation Chair Paradigm in Healthy Participants

How to Study Placebo Responses in Motion Sickness with a Rotation Chair Paradigm in Healthy Participants

Published on: December 14, 2014

Dispositional optimism predicts placebo analgesia.

Andrew L Geers¹, Justin A Wellman, Stephanie L Fowler

¹Department of Psychology, University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio 43606-3390, USA. ageers@utnet.utoledo.edu

The Journal of Pain

|July 15, 2010

Summary

Optimism influences how people experience pain relief from placebos. Individuals high in dispositional optimism reported less pain when given a placebo, suggesting optimism enhances placebo analgesia effects.

More Related Videos

An Experimental Paradigm for the Prediction of Post-Operative Pain (PPOP)

An Experimental Paradigm for the Prediction of Post-Operative Pain (PPOP)

Published on: January 27, 2010

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 11, 2026

How to Study Placebo Responses in Motion Sickness with a Rotation Chair Paradigm in Healthy Participants

How to Study Placebo Responses in Motion Sickness with a Rotation Chair Paradigm in Healthy Participants

Published on: December 14, 2014

An Experimental Paradigm for the Prediction of Post-Operative Pain (PPOP)

An Experimental Paradigm for the Prediction of Post-Operative Pain (PPOP)

Published on: January 27, 2010

Area of Science:

Psychology
Pain Research
Neuroscience

Background:

Prior research indicates dispositional optimism predicts placebo response.
Understanding individual differences in placebo analgesia is crucial for pain management.

Purpose of the Study:

To test if individuals high in optimism are more likely to respond to a placebo analgesic.
To investigate the role of dispositional optimism in placebo-induced pain reduction.

Main Methods:

Randomly assigned participants (optimists and pessimists) to placebo expectation or no expectation conditions.
Administered a cold pressor task to induce pain.
Measured blood pressure, heart rate, pain ratings, and expectations before and during the task.

Main Results:

The placebo instruction successfully altered participant expectations.
Dispositional optimism was associated with significantly lower pain ratings in the placebo condition.
This association between optimism and pain reduction was not observed in the control condition.

Conclusions:

Dispositional optimism predicts placebo analgesia in a laboratory pain setting.
Individual differences, such as optimism, may influence patient response to pain treatments.
Future research should explore optimism's role in clinical pain management and treatment responsiveness.