Research on placebo analgesia usually shows that people experienced a reduction in pain after using a placebo analgesic. An emerging line of research argues that, under some circumstances, merely ...possessing (but not using) a placebo analgesic could induce placebo analgesia. The current study investigates how temporary expectation of pain reduction associated with different forms of possessing a placebo analgesic affects pain outcomes. Healthy participants (n = 90) were presented with a vial of olive oil (placebo), described as a blended essential oil that blocks pain sensations upon nasal inhalation, and were asked to anticipate the benefits of such analgesic oil to the self (such as anticipating the analgesic oil to reduce their pain). Participants were randomized into one of three different possession conditions: physical-possession condition (participants possessed a tangible placebo analgesic oil, inducing an expectation to acquire analgesic benefit early upon the experience of pain), psychological-possession condition (participants possessed a coupon, which can be redeemed for a placebo analgesic oil, inducing an expectation to acquire analgesic benefit later upon the experience of pain), or no-possession condition. Participants did a cold pressor test (CPT) to experience experimentally-induced pain on their non-dominant hand. Their objective physical pain responses (pain-threshold and pain-tolerance), and subjective psychological pain perception (pain intensity, severity, quality, and unpleasantness) were measured. Results revealed that participants in the physical-possession condition reported greater pain-threshold, F(2, 85) = 6.65, p = 0.002, and longer pain-tolerance, F(2, 85) = 7.19, p = 0.001 than participants in the psychological-possession and no-possession conditions. No significant group difference was found in subjective pain perception. The results of this study can advance knowledge about pain mechanisms and novel pain management.
Abstract
Background
Placebo analgesia studies generally reported that the actual use of a placebo analgesic reduces pain. Yeung, Geers, and Kam found that the mere possession (without use) of a ...placebo analgesic also reduces pain.
Purpose
We investigated the relative effectiveness of using versus possessing a placebo analgesic on pain outcomes.
Methods
In Study 1a, 120 healthy adults were randomized to either the experimental (EXP) conditions (EXP1: used a placebo analgesic cream, EXP2: possessed a placebo analgesic cream) or control (CO) conditions (CO1: possessed a sham cream, CO2: no cream). All participants underwent a cold pressor test (CPT). Study 1b further delineated the effect of possession from the effect of use. Sixty healthy adults were randomized to either the placebo-possession condition (merely possessed a placebo analgesic cream) or the placebo-possession-use condition (possessed and used a placebo analgesic cream). All participants did a CPT.
Results
In Study 1a, as expected, a placebo effect was found—participants who used a placebo analgesic cream showed better pain outcomes than the two CO groups. Surprisingly, participants who merely possessed a placebo analgesic cream performed equally well as those who actually used it. In Study 1b, participants in the two conditions did not differ in most pain outcomes. Participants who possessed and used a placebo analgesic cream only showed slightly more reduction in pain intensity compared to participants who merely possessed the placebo analgesic cream.
Conclusions
Our results suggest that merely possessing a placebo analgesic could enhance pain outcomes similar to that of applying the placebo analgesic.
Healthy adults who merely possessed a placebo analgesic cream improved analgesia similarly to those who actually used the placebo analgesic cream.
A survey of the cultural notions related to happiness and the existing empirical evidence indicate that some individuals endorse the belief that happiness, particularly an immoderate degree of it, ...should be avoided. These beliefs mainly involve the general notion that happiness may lead to bad things happening. Using multigroup confirmatory factor analysis and multilevel modeling, this study investigates the measurement invariance, cross-level isomorphism, predictive validity, and nomological network of the fear of happiness scale across 14 nations. The results show that this scale has good statistical properties at both individual and cultural levels. The findings also indicate that this scale has the potential to add to the knowledge about how people conceive of, and experience, happiness across cultures.
Past research on the mere ownership effect has shown that when people own an object, they perceive the owned objects more favorably than the comparable non‐owned objects. The present research extends ...this idea, showing that when people own an object functional to the self, they perceive an increase in their self‐efficacy. Three studies were conducted to demonstrate this new form of the mere ownership effect. In Study 1, participants reported an increase in their knowledge level by the mere ownership of reading materials (a reading package in Study 1a, and lecture notes in Study 1b). In Study 2, participants reported an increase in their resilience to sleepiness by merely owning a piece of chocolate that purportedly had a sleepiness‐combating function. In Study 3, participants who merely owned a flower essence that is claimed to boost creativity reported having higher creativity efficacy. The findings provided insights on how associations with objects alter one's self‐perception.
This study examined the relationship between 4 conceptions of happiness and life satisfaction in a sample of 2715 university students across 14 national groups. The 4 conceptions were ...self-transcendence, self-directed hedonism, conservation, and self-enhancement, which emerged from a principal component analysis of a 19-item scale generated for the purpose of the present study. Results of multi-level modeling showed that self-transcendence and conservation predicted life satisfaction positively and significantly. In addition, we found that self-directed hedonism and self-enhancement interacted in their effects on life satisfaction.
•We used a sample consisting of university students from 14 cultures.•Four conceptions of happiness emerged from principal component analysis on a 19-item scale.•Relationships between conceptions of happiness and life satisfaction were examined.•Multi-level modeling showed that self-transcendence and conservation predicted life satisfaction positively.•Self-directed hedonism interacted with self-enhancement in predicting life satisfaction.
Abstract Background Placebo analgesic research demonstrates pain reduction after using a placebo analgesic. Recent studies have documented that sometimes possessing a placebo analgesic induces ...placebo analgesia. These prior studies used a ‘cream’ as the stimulus and proposed that the effect is driven by an expectancy of obtaining benefits from the owned analgesic. This paper examines three pivotal components of placebo analgesia: placebo form, ownership and expectancy induced by verbal suggestion. We investigate analgesic expectancy between cream versus oil form of placebo stimulus and systematically isolate the effects of ownership, verbal suggestion and their interaction, comparing with the effect of use, to decipher the dynamics of placebo analgesia. Methods Study 1 ( N = 46) evaluated analgesic expectancy between cream and oil. Study 2 ( N = 119) exposed participants to a placebo analgesic oil and randomized them into PU (possess and use), PA (possess and anticipate), P (possess‐only) or A (anticipate‐only) conditions. Pain outcomes were assessed using a cold pressor test. Comparing PA and P conditions assessed the verbal suggestion effect, comparing PA and A conditions evaluated the possession effect, while comparing PU and PA conditions shed light on the use effect. Results In Study 1, participants showed comparable analgesic expectancy for cream and oil. In Study 2, both PA and PU groups performed equally well, reporting higher pain threshold, F (3, 115) = 5.14, p = 0.002, = 0.12; and a greater probability of persistent hand submersion than P and A groups, X 2 (3) = 8.06, p = 0.045. Conclusion The findings highlight the significance of integrating possession with expectancy to induce placebo analgesia, which has clinical implications. Significance This study delves into the intricate dynamics of placebo analgesia, shedding light on the significant influence of ownership and verbal suggestion. Through a meticulous exploration of the relationship between ownership and expectancy induced by verbal suggestion, we propose novel avenues for enhancing placebo responses. This research has implications for clinical practice and pain management strategies, potentially revolutionizing approaches to pain relief and therapeutic outcomes. Our findings contribute to a paradigm shift in understanding placebo analgesia, emphasizing the pivotal interaction between ownership and verbal suggestion.
While public health crises such as the coronavirus pandemic transcend national borders, practical efforts to combat them are often instantiated at the national level. Thus, national group identities ...may play key roles in shaping compliance with and support for preventative measures (e.g., hygiene and lockdowns). Using data from 25,159 participants across representative samples from 21 nations, we investigated how different modalities of ingroup identification (attachment and glorification) are linked with reactions to the coronavirus pandemic (compliance and support for lockdown restrictions). We also examined the extent to which the associations of attachment and glorification with responses to the coronavirus pandemic are mediated through trust in information about the coronavirus pandemic from scientific and government sources. Multilevel models suggested that attachment, but not glorification, was associated with increased trust in science and compliance with federal COVID‐19 guidelines. However, while both attachment and glorification were associated with trust in government and support for lockdown restrictions, glorification was more strongly associated with trust in government information than attachment. These results suggest that both attachment and glorification can be useful for promoting public health, although glorification's role, while potentially stronger, is restricted to pathways through trust in government information.
U.S.-based research suggests conservatism is linked with less concern about contracting coronavirus and less preventative behaviors to avoid infection. Here, we investigate whether these tendencies ...are partly attributable to distrust in scientific information, and evaluate whether they generalize outside the U.S., using public data and recruited representative samples across three studies (N
= 34,710). In Studies 1 and 2, we examine these relationships in the U.S., yielding converging evidence for a sequential indirect effect of conservatism on compliance through scientific (dis)trust and infection concern. In Study 3, we compare these relationships across 19 distinct countries. Although the relationships between trust in scientific information about the coronavirus, concern about coronavirus infection, and compliance are consistent cross-nationally, the relationships between conservatism and trust in scientific information are not. These relationships are strongest in North America. Consequently, the indirect effects observed in Studies 1-2 only replicate in North America (the U.S. and Canada) and in Indonesia. Study 3 also found parallel direct and indirect effects on support for lockdown restrictions. These associations suggest not only that relationships between conservatism and compliance are not universal, but localized to particular countries where conservatism is more strongly related to trust in scientific information about the coronavirus pandemic.
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