A Functional-Cognitive Perspective on the Relation Between Conditioning and Placebo Research

Abstract

From a functional-cognitive perspective, conditioning is relevant for placebo research because it (a) highlights stimulus pairings (e.g., taking a pill that contains an active pharmacological substance causing a drop in blood pressure) as a potential environmental cause of creating or boosting placebo effects (e.g., reduction in blood pressure after taking a similar pill that no longer contains the active substance) and (b) orients researchers to potential mental mechanisms that might underlie those effects (e.g., the formation of associations or propositions). After describing the functional-cognitive perspective on conditioning, I provide a brief overview of three generations of conditioning theories (stimulus-response, stimulus-stimulus, and propositional theories) and evaluate different ways in which conditioning and placebo research can be related. Finally, I discuss the implications of the functional-cognitive perspective on conditioning for the status of the placebo phenomenon.

Keywords: Association formation; Cognition; Conditioning; Functional psychology; Placebo.