> Why are some things only effective if we believe them to be so?
Are they though? I used to think so until I skimmed Wikipedia article on placebo some 5 minutes ago. According to the article (as of now), there's been plenty of research on placebo done in the past couple decades, which revealed... the most mundane reality you'd expect: placebo effect impacts perception of symptoms, and can only do as much as a transient change in perception can. Apparently, the old studies that ascribed all kinds of big effects to placebos, were failing to account for regression to the mean.
Now, I haven't checked the sources, but I'm inclined to believe it - it feels right. The possibility of placebos being meaningfully effective on the targeted condition itself felt like bad writing[0] - the same phenomenon should be giving us all kinds of superpowers, which we don't see. I mean, when you get drunk, you may tolerate pain better, but your skin doesn't turn into kevlar with steel inserts just because the drunk you believes you're impervious to knives and bullets.
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[0] - Like in fiction, when you discover the author didn't think through the consequences of a minor plot point they're making - a plot point that, extrapolated ever so slightly, would instantly break the main story, and/or disrupt the entire fictional universe.
Certainly some effects are clearly only explainable by physical changes. Cognitive effects, though, it feels are a bit easier to see will be in the realm of placebo.
Are they though? I used to think so until I skimmed Wikipedia article on placebo some 5 minutes ago. According to the article (as of now), there's been plenty of research on placebo done in the past couple decades, which revealed... the most mundane reality you'd expect: placebo effect impacts perception of symptoms, and can only do as much as a transient change in perception can. Apparently, the old studies that ascribed all kinds of big effects to placebos, were failing to account for regression to the mean.
Now, I haven't checked the sources, but I'm inclined to believe it - it feels right. The possibility of placebos being meaningfully effective on the targeted condition itself felt like bad writing[0] - the same phenomenon should be giving us all kinds of superpowers, which we don't see. I mean, when you get drunk, you may tolerate pain better, but your skin doesn't turn into kevlar with steel inserts just because the drunk you believes you're impervious to knives and bullets.
--
[0] - Like in fiction, when you discover the author didn't think through the consequences of a minor plot point they're making - a plot point that, extrapolated ever so slightly, would instantly break the main story, and/or disrupt the entire fictional universe.