Reducing demand for ineffective health remedies: overcoming the illusion of causality
Authors: MacFarlane, D., Hurlstone, M.J. and Ecker, U.K.H.
Journal: Psychology and Health
Volume: 33
Issue: 12
Pages: 1472-1489
eISSN: 1476-8321
ISSN: 0887-0446
DOI: 10.1080/08870446.2018.1508685
Abstract:Objective: We tested a novel intervention for reducing demand for ineffective health remedies. The intervention aimed to empower participants to overcome the illusion of causality, which otherwise drives erroneous perceptions regarding remedy efficacy. Design: A laboratory experiment adopted a between-participants design with six conditions that varied the amount of information available to participants (N = 245). The control condition received a basic refutation of multivitamin efficacy, whereas the principal intervention condition received a full contingency table specifying the number of people reporting a benefit vs. no benefit from both the product and placebo, plus an alternate causal explanation for inefficacy over placebo. Main outcome measures: We measured participants’ willingness to pay (WTP) for multivitamin products using two incentivized experimental auctions. General attitudes towards health supplements were assessed as a moderator of WTP. We tested generalisation using ratings of the importance of clinical-trial results for making future health purchases. Results: Our principal intervention significantly reduced participants’ WTP for multivitamins (by 23%) and increased their recognition of the importance of clinical-trial results. Conclusion: We found evidence that communicating a simplified full-contingency table and an alternate causal explanation may help reduce demand for ineffective health remedies by countering the illusion of causality.
Source: Scopus
Reducing demand for ineffective health remedies: overcoming the illusion of causality.
Authors: MacFarlane, D., Hurlstone, M.J. and Ecker, U.K.H.
Journal: Psychol Health
Volume: 33
Issue: 12
Pages: 1472-1489
eISSN: 1476-8321
DOI: 10.1080/08870446.2018.1508685
Abstract:OBJECTIVE: We tested a novel intervention for reducing demand for ineffective health remedies. The intervention aimed to empower participants to overcome the illusion of causality, which otherwise drives erroneous perceptions regarding remedy efficacy. DESIGN: A laboratory experiment adopted a between-participants design with six conditions that varied the amount of information available to participants (N = 245). The control condition received a basic refutation of multivitamin efficacy, whereas the principal intervention condition received a full contingency table specifying the number of people reporting a benefit vs. no benefit from both the product and placebo, plus an alternate causal explanation for inefficacy over placebo. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: We measured participants' willingness to pay (WTP) for multivitamin products using two incentivized experimental auctions. General attitudes towards health supplements were assessed as a moderator of WTP. We tested generalisation using ratings of the importance of clinical-trial results for making future health purchases. RESULTS: Our principal intervention significantly reduced participants' WTP for multivitamins (by 23%) and increased their recognition of the importance of clinical-trial results. CONCLUSION: We found evidence that communicating a simplified full-contingency table and an alternate causal explanation may help reduce demand for ineffective health remedies by countering the illusion of causality.
Source: PubMed
Reducing demand for ineffective health remedies: overcoming the illusion of causality.
Authors: MacFarlane, D., Hurlstone, M.J. and Ecker, U.K.H.
Journal: Psychology & health
Volume: 33
Issue: 12
Pages: 1472-1489
eISSN: 1476-8321
ISSN: 0887-0446
DOI: 10.1080/08870446.2018.1508685
Abstract:Objective
We tested a novel intervention for reducing demand for ineffective health remedies. The intervention aimed to empower participants to overcome the illusion of causality, which otherwise drives erroneous perceptions regarding remedy efficacy.Design
A laboratory experiment adopted a between-participants design with six conditions that varied the amount of information available to participants (N = 245). The control condition received a basic refutation of multivitamin efficacy, whereas the principal intervention condition received a full contingency table specifying the number of people reporting a benefit vs. no benefit from both the product and placebo, plus an alternate causal explanation for inefficacy over placebo.Main outcome measures
We measured participants' willingness to pay (WTP) for multivitamin products using two incentivized experimental auctions. General attitudes towards health supplements were assessed as a moderator of WTP. We tested generalisation using ratings of the importance of clinical-trial results for making future health purchases.Results
Our principal intervention significantly reduced participants' WTP for multivitamins (by 23%) and increased their recognition of the importance of clinical-trial results.Conclusion
We found evidence that communicating a simplified full-contingency table and an alternate causal explanation may help reduce demand for ineffective health remedies by countering the illusion of causality.Source: Europe PubMed Central