Placebo Effect - Psychological Mechanisms

Placebo Effect - Psychological Mechanisms

From a psychological point of view, there are many mechanisms that contribute to placebo effects such as expectations, memory, conditioning, learning, reward, motivation, somatic focus, anxiety reduction, and meaning.

There are two principal psychological mechanisms involved in placebo effects.

The first mechanism involves patient expectancy towards future responses. A second mechanism underlying placebo effects relates to classical conditioning and involves the ability of a neutral stimulus to elicit a response. Conditioning follows expectations and it is largely dependant on the success of the first experience, social observations and other learning processes.