> I wonder if there isn't an alternative explanation, that the placebo effect may be an elaboration of the human social instinct. You read my mind. We're socia

> I wonder if there isn't an alternative explanation, that the placebo effect may be an elaboration of the human social instinct. You read my mind. We're social animals. Hamsters may respond to sunlight, human beings respond to communal support. We have plentiful food stores when we are supported by our community and have none when we are abandoned. We're not hamsters. Somebody bothering to place you in a study, ask you dozens of questions, then give you medicine ... at no cost to you ... doesn't that scream social support?