Tanya is a therapist who sells subliminal message tapes to help people stop smoking. She designs a study where one group gets a tape with subliminal messages, a second group gets a tape without subliminal messages, and the third group gets nothing. She finds that both groups with tapes had about an equal success rate in quitting smoking, compared to the group that got nothing. Which of the following explains her results?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Tanya's study shows the placebo effect, as both groups with tapes had about an equal success rate in quitting smoking, compared to the group that got nothing. This suggests that the subliminal messages on the tapes may not have had an actual effect, but rather the belief in the efficacy of the tapes led to the success in quitting smoking.

Tanya Is a Therapist Who Sells Subliminal Message Tapes to Help