Does receiving a placebo cause an actual physiological improvement?
Does receiving a placebo cause the report of the patient’s condition to improve?
The answer to the first question can be “no” while the second is still “yes”, e.g. due to patient’s self-reports of subjective conditions (pain, nausea, depression) being biased to what they think the listener wants to hear, particular if there’s been some ritualized context (as discussed in kromem’s comment) reinforcing that that’s what they “should” say.
Note that a similar effect could apply anywhere in the process where a subjective decision is made (e.g. if a doctor makes a subjective report on the patient’s condition).
Two different questions:
Does receiving a placebo cause an actual physiological improvement?
Does receiving a placebo cause the report of the patient’s condition to improve?
The answer to the first question can be “no” while the second is still “yes”, e.g. due to patient’s self-reports of subjective conditions (pain, nausea, depression) being biased to what they think the listener wants to hear, particular if there’s been some ritualized context (as discussed in kromem’s comment) reinforcing that that’s what they “should” say.
Note that a similar effect could apply anywhere in the process where a subjective decision is made (e.g. if a doctor makes a subjective report on the patient’s condition).