Placebo effect
Monday Map
If you are a self-motivated learner and you are reading this, you are highly welcome. You are the person I am writing for. This is Monday Map where I run commentaries on social issues, drop a mental model for learning, and link you up with something interesting.
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Is Humility made up?
About two months ago, I had a discussion on Twitter on the concept of humility. The user (with the pen alias “Mr. Bond”), insisted that humility is a myth. She meant this in the sense that humility has no ‘intrinsic’ worth apart from what the circumstances provide. Hard to understand? I will clarify. She wrote (in our chat) that “the appeal of humility is in the way it’s perceived as something intrinsic to a person; something you possess by virtue of your being. But the reality is that people are mostly ‘humble’ by virtue of circumstance.” In essence, she said that humility is not integrated into being; it is predicated on circumstances. To which I vehemently disagreed.
What you will read in this session is just my final response to her. But before then, her first argument piece against humility concluded like this: “whichever way you want to look at it, humility is a social construct whose credibility can only thrive on innateness, and no one is innately humble. So it’s a myth.”
Here then was my response: “Before I define what humility is, I must mention that something not existing from your point of view doesn't mean it does not exist at all.
But I will define humility strictly from a Christian point of view. Philippians 2:6-8 says about Christ that "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." From this I deduce that humility is the character of debasing oneself in regards to one's original status. The opposite of humility is pride- where pride is the character of aggrandizing oneself in regards to one's original status. Even if you do not believe in the authority of scripture but take it as mere literature, I think it is fair to defer to this description of humility of Christ who, although being God, did not mind being a man. And even as a man, he still debased himself as a servant to death (not minding that his original status is God).
Of course, the primary feature of humility is low egocentricity (the ego losing centre in the person) which translates into other characteristics like patience and low competitiveness. Pride of course corresponds to high egocentricity (the ego is well positioned at the centre of the person).
A poor man is already poor in status. But he is hardly poor in ego. His egocentricity might still be high. His economic status may just be his limitation. It doesn't make him humble. It makes him unable to exercise his ego.
Likewise, a rich man can be low in egocentricity.
A person being 'proud' of his humility brings HIS humility to question- not humility itself. Humility as a concept is so potent that we only need one genuine humble man to know that humility is not a myth. If I am proud of my humility, MY humility is the one to be questioned. For instance, I don't say that honesty or trust is a myth because someone uses honesty as a strategy or uses trust as an investment. (Trust as an investment is prevalent with mafias. Someone may infiltrate a mafia by investing years of trust. That's how undercover cops operate). Should the trust-investment or strategic honesty fail, I do not say that honesty and trust are myths.
Lastly, I don't know your worldview. But if you take a naturalistic view of life, you will be disappointed to find out that things that border on character and morality (honesty, humility, patience) cannot be sufficiently explained using a naturalistic view.
I hope this helps.”
I strongly believe that humility is not a myth. It may not be natural to man, but it is not mythical. It is not mythical like unicorns, Odyssey, Zeus. It is a character that man can partake of, and that is great.
Tell me, what do you think?
Placebo and Nocebo Effect
I read of the placebo effect as far back as 2011. The way it was related to me particularly made it interesting. I read of how a mildly sick woman disturbed the doctor to administer her an injection to make her well. The doctor insisted that she only needed to have fruit juice and a lot of rest. But she won’t yield. So the doctor did a wise thing: he gave her the injection.
Days later, the woman came in very lively and full of life. She praised the doctor’s intravenous injection for saving her life. The doctor of course took credit. But here was the thing: he injected her with water. Water made her better. The woman got better because she believed (as a mental position) that the injection would make her well. But she was administered water. This is the placebo effect.
The placebo effect is the tendency of any medication or treatment, even an inert or ineffective one, to exhibit results simply because the recipient believes that it will work.
Placebo effect is commonplace in medicine. But we can use this concept to map other domains as well.
There is a placebo effect in knowledge and learning. This is exhibited when one is certain that something they know-probably a theory, or observation, or formula is responsible for some positive outcome; when in fact the theory, observation, or formula bears no effect on the outcome at all. A classic but unspoken example of the placebo effect in learning is the thought that moral rules are raw products of reasoning and rationalism. It is what makes many people think that we can get more people on the side of ‘truth’ if only we allow more debates. Placebo effect deceives us that the truth will always prevail in the free speech arena.
The direct opposite of the placebo effect is the nocebo effect. It is the tendency of an inert treatment form to exhibit negative results because the patient has a negative perception.
The placebo and nocebo effect in social learning is crucial to our ways and forms of decision making. If you believe that a certain form (like debate) was responsible for your last success in a particular endeavor, you will be tempted and most likely repeat the same strategy as the last time. The only difference is that you may be sorely disappointed. Be discerning. Prove causality as much as you can.
The Unveiling Truth About A Quantified World
I have continuously stuck to my guns on the topic that data and statistics do not deserve the celebrity treatment they receive. I find a strong lack of self-awareness in anyone who may accuse religious people of being blind and dogmatic but they cannot see their own dogmatic leaning on data and statistics. These people have just found themselves a different kind of god-one that I admit has been an important tool in the toolkit of technological success. Data is insufficient in mapping human reality.
Read this article to get a better understanding of all I am about here.
Of course, I would ruin everything if I didn’t give you the photo for the week. So, here goes:
And that is all for today.
Have a curious week.
Yours,
Jegdy.