placebo effect
Summer is here and woe is me: Am selling my body and soul by taking part in a study on 'the effect of silicon on bone health'. The downside of it is that no liqour consumption allowed for 3 months and have to fast on a certain day after 10pm for some hours; the upside is knowing that my urine may worth 100 pounds. In addition, I might be selected in the experiment group of the project which requires me to drink non-alcohol beer. According to S's knowledge, there are basically two groups, one drinking standard beer, the other the non-alcohol one. Usually if one person in the non-alcohol beer group convinces him/herself that h/she is drunk, the others will get just as boisterous. Amazing... couched in modern terms it's similar to the 'placebo effect', in which faith in the pill may achieve remarkable results for the patient (as sadly when I'm ill, I somehow always feel 50% better on my way to the doctor's)--an example of the power of man's mind. Another interesting idea of the mind, as when one's mind is set, the use of supernatural forces or superstition is only secondary:
"... there is no evidence that would-be rebels were deterred from making their attempts by an unfavourable prognostication. On the contrary they seem to have clutched at every straw which might seem to justify them in pursuing the path upon which they already set. The man who has to toss a coin to gain support for some desired plan is unlikely to be deterred by an unfavourable result. He will toss again, or look for some other method of confirming his originial purpose".
Keith Thomas