Tanya is a therapist who sells subliminal message tapes to help people stop smoking.She designs a study where one group gets the subliminal messages on their tapes and the other group does not.She finds that both groups had about an equal success rate in quitting smoking after treatment.Which of the following explains her results?
A)Nocebo effect
B)Placebo effect
C)Confounding variables
D)Experimenter expectancy effect

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The fact that both groups had about an equal success rate in quitting smoking after treatment suggests that the effect was due to the placebo effect rather than the subliminal messages on the tapes. This is because the placebo effect can happen simply from the belief that a treatment will work, and in this case, both groups believed they were receiving a treatment to help them quit smoking (even if one group did not actually receive the subliminal messages).

Tanya Is a Therapist Who Sells Subliminal Message Tapes to Help