Placebo Effect (Noun)
Meaning
Any effect that seems to be a consequence of administering a placebo; the change is usually beneficial and is assumed result from the person's faith in the treatment or preconceptions about what the experimental drug was supposed to do; pharmacologists were the first to talk about placebo effects but now the idea has been generalized to many situations having nothing to do with drugs.
Classification
Nouns denoting natural phenomena.
Examples
- The patient's symptoms improved significantly after taking the sugar pill, a clear example of the placebo effect in action.
- Researchers found that the new therapy had a significant placebo effect, with many participants reporting improved mood and reduced stress levels.
- The doctor explained to her patient that the medication she was taking was actually a placebo, but the patient was still experiencing a positive placebo effect.
- Studies have shown that the placebo effect can be just as powerful as actual medication in some cases, leading to improved health outcomes.
- The marketing team exploited the placebo effect by packaging their new energy drink in trendy, high-tech packaging, which led to consumers reporting increased energy levels despite the ingredients being largely innocuous.