Word Association Times, Felt Effects, and Personality Characteristics of Science Students Given a Placebo Energizer

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Abstract
45 male undergraduates in a technological university volunteered for a “study of verbal thinking and personality,” with the foreknowledge that the taking of a pill might be involved. At the time of testing 30 subjects received a pill and 15 were controls in a “single-blind” design. Pill subjects were informed that the pill was an energizing drug; in actuality all pills were lactose placebos. Word-association times increased from pre- to post-pill testing by an equivalent amount for both pill and control groups. On a self-rating scale of felt effects, administered pre- and post-pill, no difference in perceived activation was recorded for either group. The placebo reactivity of pill subjects, defined in relation to the speed of associative production of the control group as a standard, indicated no differences among placebo reactors, anti-reactors, and nonreactors on any of the scales of the Personality Research Form. The essentially negative findings were tentatively attributed to the scientific sophistication of the subject sample. Restriction of the term, “placebo effect,” to therapeutic benefits obtained in a medical setting was urged.

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