What is the placebo effect, why is it important, and how do researchers deal with it in outcome research?

What will be an ideal response?


Answer: The placebo effect refers to the powerful healing that can be produced by apparently inert treatment. It is important because it has been repeatedly shown to be a factor that can produce many of the benefits associated with physical and psychological treatments, thus making it difficult to determine if an active ingredient in the treatments was effective. Researchers have to isolate these active ingredients to determine whether they have effects beyond what the placebo effect alone could account for. Researchers do this by including a placebo control group in their outcome studies, and then they use double-blind procedures so that neither the patient nor the person treating the patient knows whether the patient received the active ingredient or the placebo.

Psychology

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In Freud's theory, what happens to libido as a child grows older?

a. It moves from the conscious mind to the unconscious mind. b. It moves from the id to the ego, and then to the superego. c. It flows from one body part to another d. It gradually fades away.

Psychology

When Ms. Goldberg experienced a stroke, a small area of her brain was deprived of oxygenated blood. This resulted in a __________.

A. diffuse brain injury B. focal brain lesion C. psychopathological dementia D. diffuse lesion

Psychology

In a survey of more than 18,000 Canadians 45 years old and older, _____% of people with depression reported taking alternative medication such as herbal remedies to treat their symptoms.

A) 10 B) 15 C) 20 D) 25

Psychology

A) Discuss four ways in which depictions of media violence contribute to aggression. b) Discuss the circular relationship between media violence and aggression

What will be an ideal response?

Psychology