the placebo affect and evolution

[thatguywhojuggles]

the placebo effect and evolution

This is something I have been thinking about lately. I haven't done any research into it, so this is all just thoughts in my head and should be considered as nothing more than that. But I would love to hear comments on it.

I've been thinking about the placebo effect and evoloution.

Is the placebo effect something that has evolved over time?

Think about this: Humans have been practicing some form of medicine or healing for a very long time. It is only until recently that we established a method (scientific) of determining if the medicines worked or not.

So until just recently a lot of people have been taking medicine and recieving healing from sources that may be completely bunk. One would expect them to die off. Many of them probably did. However, some people had the ability to get better simply by believing that they were recieving authentic medicine/healing. They reproduce while the others without this ability died off.

Again, this is just something I thought up. It may have allready been discussed elsewhere.

I welcome any thoughts.

Edited because after an AA, BA, and and MA, I still can't seem to know when to use "affect" or "effect"

 

[pupdog]

Placebo & evolution:

Intelligent Design Creationism is a placebo. It makes a lot of people who don't know any better feel good, but it is absolutely void of any scientific substance.

 

[neutrino_cannon]

The benefits to increased response to placebo effect would be a lot like the benefits of a better immune system, except that you wouldn't have to keep it up all the time.

It's plausable I guess, I'll have to think about that one.

The bugger is testing it.