Trial reportProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2018
Placebo treatment facilitates social trust and approach behavior.
Trial report in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Social incentive factors in interventions promoting sustainable behaviors: A meta-analysis.PloS one · 2021Pooled it
- Efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy-based smartphone app for smoking cessation in China: A randomized controlled trial.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2026Trial
- Post-encoding administration of oxytocin selectively enhances memory consolidation of male faces in females.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Trial
- Deceptive and open-label placebo effects in experimentally induced guilt: a randomized controlled trial in healthy subjects.Scientific reports · 2022Trial
- Oxytocin facilitates valence-dependent valuation of social evaluation of the self.Communications biology · 2020Trial
- Guided Imagery for Total Knee Replacement: Responses to an Audiobook Placebo Treatment.Western journal of nursing research · 2020Trial
- Effects and Components of Placebos with a Psychological Treatment Rationale - Three Randomized-Controlled Studies.Scientific reports · 2019Trial
- The Effect of Antioxidant Administration on Semen Quality in Men with Infertility: A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Systematic manipulation of experimenters' non-verbal behaviors for the investigation of pain reports and placebo effects.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Makeup and Its Application Simulation Affect Women's Self-Perceptions.Archives of sexual behavior · 2021Article
- Article
- Placebo Effects in the Context of Religious Beliefs and Practices: A Resting-State Functional Connectivity Study.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2021Article
- Oxytocin modulates social value representations in the amygdala.Nature neuroscience · 2019Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Placebo effect refers to beneficial changes induced by the use of inert treatment, such as placebo-induced relief of physical pain and attenuation of negative affect. To date, we know little about whether placebo treatment could facilitate social functioning, a crucial aspect for well-being of a social species. In the present study, we develop and validate a paradigm to induce placebo effects on social trust and approach behavior (social placebo effect), and show robust evidence that placebo treatment promotes trust in others and increases preference for a closer interpersonal distance. We further examine placebo effects in real-life social interaction and show that placebo treatment makes single, but not pair-bonded, males keep closer to an attractive first-met female and perceive less social anxiety in the female. Finally, we show evidence that the effects of placebo treatment on social trust and approach behavior can be as strong as the effect of intranasal administration of oxytocin, a neuropeptide known for its function in facilitating social cognition and behavior. The finding of the social placebo effect extends our understanding of placebo effects on improvement of physical, mental, and social well-being and suggests clinical potentials in the treatment of social dysfunction.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.