Problem-Solving and Data AnalysisVery hardInterpreting a placebo effect
Problem-Solving and Data Analysis practice question
In a trial, patients who were given a sugar pill and told it was a painkiller reported less pain than patients who were given nothing. Which of the following does this result most directly show?
- A. Expecting a treatment can, by itself, reduce the pain people report.Correct
- B. Sugar is an effective painkiller.
- C. The patients given the sugar pill were not telling the truth.
- D. Pain cannot be measured in any meaningful way.
Answer: A. Expecting a treatment can, by itself, reduce the pain people report.
The pill had no active ingredient; the only difference was the patients' expectation. That expectation changed what they reported — the placebo effect.
Why the other answers are wrong
- B. Sugar is an effective painkiller.
- Sugar has no known painkilling action; the effect comes from expectation.
- C. The patients given the sugar pill were not telling the truth.
- Reporting less pain under a placebo is a well-documented real experience, not dishonesty.
- D. Pain cannot be measured in any meaningful way.
- The trial measured reported pain and found a difference; the result doesn't show measurement is meaningless.
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