Socially Acquired Nocebo Effects Generalize but Are Not Attenuated by Choice.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Socially observing a negative treatment-related experience has been shown to modulate our own experience with the same intervention, leading to worsened health outcomes. However, whether this social learning generalizes to similar but distinct interventions has not been explored nor what manipulations can reduce these effects.

Purpose

To determine whether socially acquired nocebo effects can be generated by observing a negative experience with a similar, but distinct intervention, and whether choice can reduce these effects.

Methods

Across three experiments, a community sample of healthy adults (N = 336) either watched a confederate report cybersickness to the same Virtual Reality (VR) activity they were assigned to (Social Modeling: Consistent); a similar,

SUBMITTER: Saunders C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10653279 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature