Placebos are most commonly used in medical trials, to compare if people have reactions to the actual drug being tested.
However, more often than not, many people who take a placebo still feel as if they have received some sort of therapeutic outcome after digesting or being injected with the placebo.
This is commonly known. as "the placebo effect".
But the placebo effect goes well beyond medicine.
Our minds are funny, and not always reliable creatures, as sometimes when they are simply told something will have a certain effect on us, they make the rest of our body believe it.
Even if literally nothing has actually changed.
Redditor El_CM was curious to hear everyday examples of the placebo effect which almost always go unnoticed, leading them to ask:
'What is just a placebo effect but most people don't realize?"
Simple Cures For Boo-Boos...
"I worked at a kids birthday party place for a couple years in high school."
"So many kids would cry because they fell over, bumped their arm, etc."
"Never anything bad. I’d say something like 'can you shake your foot around? Does it feel better?'"
"'How about jumping in a circle?'”
“'Alright we are going to blow on your hand so it feels better'” and then ask if they are ready to play again."
"Works like a charm."
"Also bandages for little boo boos."
"They think they are healed and get right back to being happy little kiddos :)"- amiemartian
Things Aren't As Bad As You Think...
"Your perception of bad luck."
"The human brain is predisposed to remember bad experiences more vividly than the good ones."
"Thus, for an example, you may say your luck is always awful at tolls, when in reality you only get stuck in traffic 20%-50% of the time."- mopeiobebeast
Season 3 Fml GIF by The SimpsonsGiphyGoing Through The Motions...
"When I worked/trained tech support, our agents would always get pushback from customers when we asked them to power cycle their phone, which nine times out of ten would fix their issue."
"So, I had them tell the customer to read them some numbers off the back of the battery, when they were still removable!"
"That we absolutely did not need."
"Then we told them we refreshed a few systems, and they put their battery back in and it's all fixed!"
"Alternatively, when batteries couldn't be removed, we'd tell them that if the phone was powered on while we did the update, it could ruin their SIM card."
"So they'd make sure to power off their phone."
"I'd do nothing."
"They'd turn it back on and it worked great!"
"But if I had TOLD them to power cycle their phones?"
"No way."- Demetre4757
Some People Believe Anything They're Told...
"So I’m sure this has happened to other people, but this question just reminded me of my principal."
"During meetings and such he uses the school auditorium, and most of the time I, senior now at the school, have to run the sound and lights."
"He’s extremely annoying about it, and ALWAYS asks for his mic to be turned up when in reality, he’s already extremely loud and will bust the speakers."
"I just pretend to turn it up and ask him if it’s good, and he speaks and says 'that’s perfect, thank you!'"
I swear he thinks I’m doing an amazing job and would bring me a coke or something for dealing with the meetings half of the day."
"Greatest placebo to use against others that I’ve done."- whalethings
Is This Thing On Mic Check GIF by OriginalsGiphyJust Being Part Of The Action...
"When you give your young sibling an unconnected controller after he/she kept bugging to join the game."- sal00
Time Is Relative...
"Do commissioned creative stuff, if I deliver the same or next day, people don’t think I spent enough time on it."
"If I wait three days to deliver, people are happy because they assume I worked on their project nonstop even though I was done a day or two prior."-Reddit
"Round Like A Circle And A Spiral..."
"Loading spinners on web pages."
"I once had a user complain to me a web app was too slow, and it was pretty fast."
"So I tested him by making the animation spinner spin much faster."
"He went to my boss to praise me how much faster the web app was."
"Spin.js is what I was using."- hibikikun
spinner GIF by Tobias RotheGiphyFixed!
"I install semi truck bumpers."
"90% of the time a customer will say it looks off by 1/8 of an inch."
"I’ll make a noise with the impact gun on a bolt and say 'how’s that?'.
“'Yeah it looks great!'”
"Nothing moved whatsoever."
"Some guys are extremely critical I guess."- SpartanE78
When our mind is fed information we want to hear, we are inclined to believe it's true.
Even if our mind is actually the one deceiving us.
Meaning that yes, all those years we spend blowing on the inside of our Super NES cartridges to stop them from freezing actually did nothing whatsoever...
@priscillachan/Instagram