5 Things You Think Work, But Actually Don't

5 Things You Think Work, But Actually Don't

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Most people are well aware of the placebo effect as it pertains to medicine. The idea is that simply thinking that a treatment will cure your symptoms is sometimes enough to make that treatment take effect. For instance, a patient who thinks he's taking Advil for a headache may see his headache go away even if he's swallowing a sugar pill meant to look like a painkiller. The effect is powerful enough that control groups in scientific studies of a treatment's effectiveness will be given a dummy tBut the placebo effect is by no means limited to medicine. In our daily lives we constantly encou

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I was always well aware of the elevator buttons and walk signals, and always had my doubts about those shoes. The HDTV one is a bit surprising, but a lot of people also think that hooking up DVD players through composite video to a 40+" HDTV is good.


The elevator door button doesn't actually close the door. It's an express button for police and paramedics. If you hold the button while holding the button of the floor you want to go to the elevator will not stop at any floors on the way - even if someone has called it. Works on 80% of elevators.




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I'm trying that elevator trick and you can't stop me!

I would say that most of our lives are a placebo and or control mechanism.

reply to post by sbctinfantry




"I would say that most of our lives are a placebo and or control mechanism. "

Zounds... What an interesting thought. Recent cognitive research is finding this to be a reasonable observation.

I knew my butt toning miracle shoes were a dud!

Good Find soo true S+F

There is another one

Vote for the "left or "right" and things will change.

We all go to the polls every 4 years regardless.

Thanks Op

Elf

reply to post by sbctinfantry


My second wife had anxiety attacks. We would be driving down a country road in the Midwest and she would say "Pull over, I gotta get some air conditioning." Not seeing any air conditioned ears of corn I would have to try to convince here unreasonable butt that stopping would not help.

We went to doctor after doctor who all said the same thing; "It's all in her head." Finally, I suggested that they give her a sugar pill and tell her they have finally figured it out. Convince here she will be better and she will, was my theory. The doctor told me that would be unethical... Instead they gave here Ativan and told me it was a mild sedative.

Fast forward six months and I am coming home from my second full time job as a printer. When I walk in my three year old daughter is up, but the wife is not, except that my daughter has gotten into my wifes pills and has the look in her eyes like she is going down for the count. I scoop her up and race her to the hospital that gave my wife the pills - one exit away - and get her stomach pumped. At the time I worked for the State government and had Blue Cross/Blue Shield insurance, but since I hadn't called a doctor to get permission to take her to the Emergency Room, BC/BS would not pay it.

I like some placebos, the right one in this case would have kept me from despising the medical community quite as quickly. Though other things have happened which would have made that distrust inevitable.

reply to post by joyride0187


Th button in my building's elevators work. Otherwise your waiting 45 seconds for the door to close after stopping at the floor.
And in order to ride the elevator all the way to the top without disruption is to put the elevator on service with a special key. Police, firefighters and paramedics have to get in touch with the superintendents to do that. Maybe this is only in Canada though, or depends on the company and manufacturers.

Originally posted by Ittabena
reply to post by sbctinfantry

 

We went to doctor after doctor who all said the same thing; "It's all in her head." Finally, I suggested that they give her a sugar pill and tell her they have finally figured it out. Convince here she will be better and she will, was my theory. The doctor told me that would be unethical... Instead they gave here Ativan and told me it was a mild sedative.

The only unethical thing about that Doctor, is the fact he/she are legalized drug pushers, that get kick backs from the drug companies.

Many good ethical doctors prescribe placebos.

Doctors that prescribe Placebos

Any close elevator button I pressed made the doors close immediately after and I'm in the USA

HDTV is extremely obvious or not.. you can see so much more detail. I can tell immediately.....who seriously couldn't?

The cross walk signal never seemed to work for me

reply to post by joyride0187


Interesting-especially about the lift button-I wonder if that works in the UK as well,can't wait to try!

The list should also have mentioned governments-They don't work either IMO.
And while we are at it-Banks as well.
Oh and Bandwidth-does anyone get the bandwidth claimed by their ISP?
I don't...

The HDTV thing is wrong, some people cant tell the difference but there is a difference. This one is down to human stupidity like some people thinking they are watching HD via a scart cable.

The same thing will be true of anything, if people have 2 meals and are told one is prepared by a michelin chef, they will pick that one as the best even if they are prepared by the same person.

I'll vouch for the dummy thermostat....I'm an HVAC tech. But 80% is an exaggeration. My estimate is 2% of stats in office buildings are dummy. I will say tho that they do work (dummy stats as a placebo.) Offices with 20-30 men and especially middle aged women, (no offense)sharing 2 or 3 stats are a nightmare for me. If i have to, God forbid, walk thru the cubicles, I will get at least 3 people who stop me and tell me there's a problem with the A/C or furnace. People just have different comfort levels. The dummy stat works...and it is hilarious.
I often recommend to the office manager to stop wasting money on calling us out and put in a few dummy stats, but they usually don't believe that it will work.
Similarly, those people who have issues with being too hot or cold all the time tend to start feeling more comfortable as soon as they see me. You wouldn't believe how many times I've heard " Oh, it feels so much better in here now." before i've even taken out my nutdriver. I get a great kick out of it every time.

One thing that always amazed me by it's stupidity is when you watch an add of a new tv showing you
their much much better screen though your own tv screen.

agreed wihen it comes to hdtv aka bluray aka high definition content anyone can tell the difference from the old.

alot of videophiles out there know their stuff and they only real source for true hd is bluray but they seem to neglect bluray from that article.

they should have made that distinction.

reply to post by joyride0187


Well as far as the thermostats go, as a contractor i have had a lot of customers who complain about a broken thermostat but most often it is the old one left from the previous hvac systwm. Many hvac guys lack the desire or skills to repair drywall and then match paint behind an old thermostat so they leave there but it is disconnected.

My favourite placebo button is the ‘open’ button on the London Underground. I visited London last year and It took me a while to catch on to this. Its hilarious seeing all the tourists frantically pushing it when it just sits there looking at them with complete apathy.

reply to post by SSimon


Lol yes indeed, and also the "New (Brand) with the FOURTH colour! Now with MORE yellow!" ...

Wait... hold on... I can SEE yellow anyway on my OBVIOUSLY inferior tri-colour HD wizardly TV... Don't need to spend countless hundreds on a TV for an extra colour pixel that my TV shows me anyway...

I don't believe that most laws work.

Not for me anyway.

Here's a prime example of the placebo effect, by Penn and Teller.

Nearly everyone of the public they asked, failed the test, believing because, it tasted fresher and better, it must be organic.

Penn and Teller: Organic Food Test


Penn and Teller: Placebo Effect