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Related Experiment Videos

Classical conditioning and the placebo effect

G H Montgomery1, I Kirsch

  • 1University of Connecticut, Department of Psychology, Storrs 06269-1020, USA.

Pain
|August 1, 1997
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

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Placebo responses are driven by expectancies, not direct stimulus pairings. Conditioning enhances placebo effects, but this is fully mediated by expectancy, disproving stimulus substitution models.

Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Behavioral Neuroscience

Background:

  • Stimulus substitution models suggest placebo responses arise from conditioned stimulus-response associations.
  • Expectancy theory proposes that conditioning creates expectancies, which then elicit placebo responses.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To test opposing stimulus substitution and expectancy theories of placebo responses.
  • To investigate the role of expectancies in mediating conditioned placebo effects.

Main Methods:

  • Participants underwent conditioning trials, with some receiving information to impede expectancy formation.
  • Placebo expectancies and responses were assessed.
  • Regression analyses examined the mediating role of expectancy.
  • Extinction trials were used to assess response changes.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • Conditioning trials significantly enhanced placebo responding.
  • This enhancement was eliminated when expectancies were included in the regression, indicating full mediation.
  • Verbal information reversed conditioning effects on expectancies and responses.
  • Placebo effect magnitude increased over extinction trials.

Conclusions:

  • Data disconfirm stimulus substitution models.
  • Findings provide strong support for expectancy theory in explaining conditioned placebo enhancement.