Episode Details

Glenn Ostlund's Psychology Today Profile

Chelsea Shields Strayer joins Glenn, Matt, and Scott for a discusion on The Placebo Effect.

Part 1 covers Chelsea’s time as a cultural anthropologist in Ghana, why she got involved in Africa, and how her field work among the Ashanti changed the way she views her Mormon culture. We also discuss cultural relativism — when is it OK to judge a culture’s vices and become an advocate for change? And we begin to discuss the Placebo Effect based on the faith healers Chelsea studied in Africa — how an inert medication or treatment can actually cause measurable physical change in a person’s body.