Explanatory approaches to the placebo effect have traditionally been divided between the social sciences and humanities, on the one side, and the biological and medical sciences on the other. In this seminar, I will attempt to reconcile these approaches using the ideas of the great Belgian philosopher and psychologist, Joseph Delboeuf (1831-1896). In the first part of my talk, I will provide a brief sketch of Delboeuf¹s life and work, then discuss his ideas on the psychosomatic effects of hypnosis. In the second part, I will outline the various theoretical approaches to the placebo effect, placing particular emphasis on the issues raised by the discovery of a placebo effect in rats in 1975. In the conclusion, I will propose an experiential model for understanding the phenomenon and argue that, if the model is correct, the reason the placebo effect has remained so long a mystery is because too little attention had been directed to the subject¹s psychological experience.

Date:Thursday, April 8, 2004
Time: 4:00 PM
Place: Concordia University, Loyola Campus, Science Pavilion (Building SP), 7141 Sherbrooke Street West, 3rd Floor
Room: SP 365.01
Contact: (514) 848-2424 ext 2595

Note: There are regular shuttle buses traveling between Sir George Williams Campus (1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd. W.) and Loyola Campus; see Shuttle bus schedule.