ReviewFrontiers in psychology2018
How Does Observational Learning Produce Placebo Effects? A Model Integrating Research Findings.
Review in Frontiers in psychology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 3 of them syntheses 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
23 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Learning by observing: a systematic exploration of modulatory factors and the impact of observationally induced placebo and nocebo effects on treatment outcomes.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Placebo Analgesia, Nocebo Hyperalgesia, and the Cardiovascular System: A Qualitative Systematic Review.Frontiers in physiology · 2020Pooled it
- Trial
- Positive social modeling attenuates nocebo side effects.Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine · 2025Trial
- Is it personality or genes? - A secondary analysis on a randomized controlled trial investigating responsiveness to placebo analgesia.Scandinavian journal of pain · 2025Trial
- The Effect of the Model's Social Status on Placebo Analgesia Induced by Social Observational Learning.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2022Trial
- Article
- Neuropsychological mechanisms of observational learning in human placebo effects.Psychopharmacology · 2025Review
- Placebo hypoalgesia induced by operant conditioning: a comparative study on the effects of verbal, token-based, and social rewards and punishers.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Socially Acquired Nocebo Effects Generalize but Are Not Attenuated by Choice.Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine · 2023Article
- The Biology of Placebo and Nocebo Effects on Experimental and Chronic Pain: State of the Art.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Review
- [Seeing others is believing-analgesic placebo effects through observational learning?]Schmerz (Berlin, Germany) · 2022Review
- The neglect of sex: A call to action for including sex as a biological variable in placebo and nocebo research.Contemporary clinical trials · 2022Review
- When one suffers less, all suffer less: Individual pain ratings are more effective than group ratings in producing placebo hypoalgesia.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2022Article
- To Be (Vaccinated) or Not to Be: The Effect of Media Exposure, Institutional Trust, and Incentives on Attitudes toward COVID-19 Vaccination.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- What is pain: Are cognitive and social features core components?Paediatric & neonatal pain · 2021Review
- Understanding Contextual Factors Effects and Their Implications for Italian Physiotherapists: Findings from a National Cross-Sectional Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Associations Between Interindividual Differences, Expectations and Placebo and Nocebo Effects in Itch.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
- Placebo Effects on Stress, but Not on Pain Reports. A Multi-Experiment Study.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
There is a growing body of evidence proving that observational learning, in addition to classical conditioning and verbal suggestions, may induce both placebo analgesia and nocebo hyperalgesia. However, much less is known about the mechanisms and factors influencing placebo effects induced by observational learning. The paper critically reviews the research findings in the field in the context of Bandura's social learning theory. We apply Bandura's taxonomy of the sources of social learning (behavioral, symbolic, and verbal modeling) and discuss the results of previous studies. Critical points in the placebo effects induced by observational learning are identified. We discuss aspects of behavior presented by the model (both verbal and non-verbal) involved in the formation of placebo effects induced by observational learning as well as the role of expectancies in this process. As a result, we propose a model that integrates the existing research findings. The model shows the main ways of transmission of pain-related information from the model to the observer. It highlights the role of expectancies and the individual characteristics of the observer in formation of placebo analgesia and nocebo hyperalgesia induced by observational learning. Finally, we propose future research directions based on our model.
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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.