Placebos in Research

1. Define key variables.

1. Create an operational definition (i.e., a clear description of exactly what a researcher means by a concept) of yoga-related beliefs.
   1. For the purposes of this experiment, a yoga-related belief is the activation of a participant’s preconceived notions about yoga and its potential benefits that will be manipulated by having the participant do a series of basic stretches that he or she is told is yoga.
2. Create an operational definition (i.e., a clear description of exactly what a researcher means by a concept) of creativity.
   1. For purposes of this experiment, creativity is defined as the number of alternative uses a participant thinks of for a clothespin.

2. Conduct the study.

1. Meet the student/participant at the lab.
2. Provide participant with informed consent, a brief description of the research (Yoga and creativity), a sense of the procedure, an indication of potential risks/benefits, the right of withdrawal at any time, and a manner to get help if they experience discomfort.
3. Run the placebo yoga condition.
   1. A placebo is an inert substance or procedure that a person believes has an active ingredient. Placebos test how much the mere belief that something works can produce changes in the dependent variable.
   2. Tell the participant: “In consultation with the wellness center at a local hospital we are testing the potential benefits of yoga. As you may know, yoga is a 5,000 year-old system of exercises and stretches designed to help build and emphasize connections between body and mind. For this study I’d like you to engage in a series of yoga movements.”
   3. Direct the participant to do several “yoga” stretches (these stretches are not actually considered yoga). Each stretch should be held for one minute.
4. Run the stretching condition (shown with a different participant).
   1. Tell the participant: “In consultation with the wellness center at the local hospital, we are testing potential benefits of stretching. As you may know, stretching is an integral component to personal fitness. For this study I’d like you to engage in a series of stretching movements.”
   2. Instruct the participant do several stretches. Hold stretch should be held for one minute.
      1. These are purposefully the same as the placebo condition. Everything with the stretching condition should be the same with the exception of the introductory comments to the participant (2.3.2. and 2.4.1.).
5. Give the participant the dependent variable.
   1. Give the participant the Guilford Alternative Uses Task¹ by asking him or her to “list as many possible uses as you can think of in the next 3 minutes for a clothespin.”
   2. Give participant a piece of paper with numbered lines to fill in their answers.
      1. See a sample list from a participant (Figure 1).
         
         Figure 1: Sample list of creative uses for a clothespin.
   3. Give participant the open-ended follow-up question about their perception of yoga. For example, what effects (if any) do you think yoga has on the mind and body? Make sure the participant indicates that yoga relates to physical and mental benefits including creativity/open-mindedness.

3. Debrief the participant.

1.  Tell the participant the nature of the study.
   1. “Thank you for participating. In this study I was trying to determine that if a person simply believes he or she is doing yoga, it would it have the same benefits as actually doing yoga. There were two conditions, each comprising a series of basic stretches. However, one group thought they were doing yoga, while the other group knew they were basic stretches. We hypothesized that the group who thought they were doing yoga would generate a greater number of creative uses for the clothespin compared to the group who knew they were doing basic stretches.”
2. Explain explicitly why deception was necessary for the experiment.
   1. “We want to tell you about the deception we used in this study. We used deception by telling participants we were testing these physical movements in conjunction with a local wellness center. That wasn’t true. We also told some participants they were doing yoga when in reality everyone did a series of basic stretches. We did this to test whether expectations about yoga’s benefits was enough to boost creativity. Deception was necessary because we wanted to get participants natural reaction. If participants were to know the true reasoning and hypothesis behind the study they may have performed in an unnatural way by trying to purposefully disprove the experimenter’s hypothesis. Because of the nature of the deception, it is quite natural for participants to not realize that they were being deceived.”