Dr. Jones was testing the effectiveness of a new vitamin supplement. Half of the participants received the vitamin and half received a sugar pill. He found that the sugar pill worked as well and sometimes better than the vitamin. This could reflect
A)an experimenter bias
B)a placebo effect
C)demand characteristics
D)a replication bias
E)an order effect

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The placebo effect occurs when participants in an experiment show a change in behavior or improvement in health simply because they believe they are receiving an effective treatment, even if they are only receiving a sham or inert treatment, such as a sugar pill. In this scenario, the improvement seen in participants taking the sugar pill suggests they experienced benefits because they believed they were taking a real vitamin supplement, which is a classic example of the placebo effect.

Dr Jones Was Testing the Effectiveness of a New Vitamin