
Andrew GeersUniversity of Toledo · Department of Psychology
Andrew Geers
Doctor of Philosophy
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139
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Publications (139)
Dental anxiety, a predictor of both dental treatment avoidance and health outcomes, has been linked with early negative dental experiences. The causes of this relationship remain largely unexplored. This study provides a preliminary exploration of within-cultural variations of dental normative beliefs on the perception of negative dental experience...
Providing treatment side effect information to patients increases the risk of harm due to the nocebo effect. Nocebo education, in which patients learn about nocebo effects, is a novel strategy that can be used across a variety of situations and individuals to decrease unpleasant treatment side effects. It is currently unclear which psychological ch...
Background: Although some existing models propose that attention may be crucially implicated in placebo/nocebo effects, empirical research on this aspect remains limited and scattered. Purpose: This systematic review aims to provide an inclusive overview of studies that have either directly manipulated or assessed attention within the context of pl...
Background
Although some existing models propose that attention may be crucially implicated in placebo/nocebo effects, empirical research on this aspect remains limited and scattered.
Purpose
This systematic review aims to provide an inclusive overview of studies that have either directly manipulated or assessed attention within the context of pla...
The perception of taking a generic, relative to brand, medication has been demonstrated to exacerbate the nocebo effect. Conversely, positive attribute framing has been shown to attenuate the nocebo effect. However, little is known about the longevity of positive attribute framing nor how it interacts with generic versus brand treatment cues. Healt...
Background:
With evidence for large nocebo effects in pain, guidelines for nocebo-minimizing strategies regarding side effect disclosure are emerging. While the ethical implications and effectiveness of such strategies have been the subject of investigations, the perspective of healthcare users are missing despite the stakes for patient autonomy....
Background
Latent inhibition occurs when exposure to a stimulus prior its direct associative conditioning impairs learning. Results from naturalistic studies suggest that latent inhibition disrupts the learning of dental fear from aversive associative conditioning and thereby reduces the development of dental phobia. Although theory suggests latent...
Background
Dental stimuli can evoke fear after being paired - or conditioned - with aversive outcomes (e.g., pain). Pre-exposing the stimuli before conditioning can impair dental fear learning via a phenomenon known as latent inhibition. Theory suggests changes in expected relevance and attention are two mechanisms responsible for latent inhibition...
Introduction:
To minimize nocebo effects, it may be possible to employ authorized concealment, in which clinicians tell patients about the nocebo phenomenon and ask if they would prefer not to be informed about mild treatment side effects.
Objective:
The objective of the study was to understand public evaluations of authorized concealment for re...
Informing patients about potential side effects of pain treatment is a requirement that protects patients and aids decision making, but it increases the likelihood of unwanted nocebo side effects. If patients do not desire all side-effect information, it may be possible to ethically reduce nocebo effects through authorized concealment of side effec...
Informing patients about potential side-effects of pain treatment is a requirement that protects patients and aids decision-making, but it increases the likelihood of unwanted nocebo side-effects. If patients do not desire all side-effect information, it may be possible to ethically reduce nocebo effects through authorized concealment of side-effec...
Two common elements in patient care are reoccurring painful events (e.g., blood draws) and verbal suggestions from others for lessened pain. Research shows that verbal suggestions for lower pain can decrease subsequent pain perception from novel noxious stimuli, but it is less clear how these suggestions and prior painful experiences combine to inf...
Background
Evidence suggests that dental anxiety and phobia are frequently the result of direct associative fear conditioning but that pre-exposure to dental stimuli prior to conditioning results in latent inhibition of fear learning. The mechanisms underlying the pre-exposure effect in humans, however, are poorly understood. Moreover, pain sensiti...
Background
Affective associations have been shown to predict physical activity, but interventions designed to manipulate affective associations are limited.
Purpose
To increase physical activity through manipulation of affective associations toward physical activity using the values component from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) in cardiac...
Objective: Negative beliefs about medication and vaccine side-effects can spread rapidly through social communication. This has been recently documented with the potential side-effects from the COVID-19 vaccines. We tested if pre-vaccination social communications about side-effects from personal acquaintances, news reports, and social media predict...
Objective
Negative beliefs about medication and vaccine side-effects can spread rapidly through social communication. This has been recently documented with the potential side-effects from the COVID-19 vaccines. We tested if pre-vaccination social communications about side-effects from personal acquaintances, news reports, and social media predict...
Objective
Lack of choice over treatment may increase the nocebo effect, whereby unpleasant side effects can be triggered by the treatment context, beyond any inherent physiological effects of the treatment itself. Excessive choice may also increase the nocebo effect. The current studies tested these possibilities.
Method
Participants took part in...
To protect themselves from COVID-19, people follow the recommendations of the authorities, but they also resort to placebos. To stop the virus, it is important to understand the factors underlying both types of preventive behaviour. This study examined whether our model (developed based on the Health Belief Model and the Transactional Model of Stre...
Attribute framing presents an ethically sound approach for reducing adverse nocebo effects. In past studies, however, attribute framing has not always decreased nocebo effects. The present study used a sham tDCS procedure to induce nocebo headaches to explore factors that may contribute to the efficacy of attribute framing. Participants (N = 174) w...
Background
Vaccines are being administered worldwide to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccine boosters are essential for maintaining immunity and protecting against virus variants. The side effects of the primary COVID-19 vaccine (e.g., headache, nausea), however, could reduce intentions to repeat the vaccination experience, thereby hindering globa...
COVID-19 vaccine side-effects remain a substantial barrier to vaccination. Previous studies suggest that the experience of vaccination side-effects is exacerbated by expectations, but the extent to which social communication influences these expectations is currently unclear. A prospective longitudinal study (N=551) assessed whether three different...
Background: Vaccines are being administered worldwide to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccine boosters are essential for maintaining immunity and protecting against virus variants. The side effects of the primary COVID-19 vaccine (e.g., headache, nausea), however, could reduce intentions to repeat the vaccination experience, thereby hindering glob...
To protect themselves from COVID-19, people follow the recommendations of the authorities, but they also resort to placebos. To stop the virus, it is important to understand the factors underlying both types of preventive behaviour. This study examined whether our model (developed based on the Health Belief Model and the Transactional Model of Stre...
Background
Choice has been proposed as a method of enhancing placebo effects. However, there have been no attempts to systematically evaluate the magnitude, reliability, and moderators of the influence of choice on the placebo effect.
Purpose
To estimate the effect size of choice on the placebo effect and identify any moderators of this effect.
M...
Youth with dental anxiety are at an increased risk of poor oral health but current tools used to identify dental anxiety in children in clinical settings are hampered by several limitations. This study assessed the psychometric properties of a measure of implicit associations with dental stimuli, the Affective Misattribution Procedure for dental st...
A prospective longitudinal study tested the links between nocebo-related factors and COVID-19 vaccine experienced side-effects. Pre-vaccine side-effect expectations, worry about COVID-19, and depressive symptoms predicted COVID-19 vaccine side-effects (i.e., headache, fatigue), and did so beyond baseline symptoms, age, vaccine type, and prior COVID...
Handwashing has been widely recommended to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Despite this, handwashing behavior remains low in the general public. Social marketing has been employed as a successful health promotion strategy for changing many health behaviors in the past. The present study examines if message framing influences the effectiveness of a h...
Background:
Side effect warnings can contribute directly to their occurrence via the nocebo effect. This creates a challenge for clinicians and researchers, because warnings are necessary for informed consent, but can cause harm. Positive framing has been proposed as a method for reducing nocebo side effects whilst maintaining the principles of in...
Expectancies can shape pain and other experiences. Generally, experiences change in the direction of what is expected (i.e., assimilation effects), as seen with placebo effects. However, in case of large expectation-experience discrepancies, experiences might change away from what is expected (i.e., contrast effects). Previous research has demonstr...
Handwashing is important in preventing infectious diseases like COVID-19. The current public health emergency has required rapid implementation of increased handwashing in the general public; however, rapidly changing health behavior, especially on this scale, is difficult. This study considers attitudes and affective responses to handwashing as po...
Once considered nuisance variance in clinical trials, placebo
effects and nocebo effects are now widely recognized as
important and mutable psychobiological contributors to
mental and physical health. Psychological theory explaining
these effects emphasizes associative learning and
conscious expectations. It has long been suggested, however,
that a...
Once considered nuisance variance in clinical trials, placebo effects and nocebo effects are now widely recognized as important and mutable psychobiological contributors to mental and physical health. Psychological theory explaining these effects emphasizes associative learning and conscious expectations. It has long been suggested, however , that...
Although historically viewed as the outcomes of inert treatments, placebo and nocebo effects represent the component of medical treatment effects resulting from psychological factors. Researchers have found evidence for placebo and nocebo effects in both classic and contemporary medicine. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are required to account...
A recent study found that merely possessing a placebo analgesic reduces pain. The current study tested for a possible moderator of this effect. Specifically, does the mere possession of a placebo analgesic affect pain for individuals with and without immediate prior experience with the pain task? Healthy participants (N=127) were randomized to prio...
Public preparation for the COVID-19 pandemic was widely covered in the media due to its intensity and fast-pace. While some individuals prepared with personal safety supplies such as soap and hand sanitizer, many others did not purchase such preparatory products. There are many health and safety benefits to quick engagement and emergency preparedne...
Introduction:
Clinical and laboratory studies demonstrate that placebo and nocebo effects influence various symptoms and conditions after the administration of both inert and active treatments.
Objective:
There is an increasing need for up-to-date recommendations on how to inform patients about placebo and nocebo effects in clinical practice and...
A recent study found that merely possessing a placebo analgesic reduces pain. The current study tested for a possible moderator of this effect. Specifically, does the mere possession of a placebo analgesic affect pain for individuals with and without immediate prior experience with the pain task? Healthy participants (N = 127) were randomized to pr...
Background and aim:
Despite recent publications, practitioners remain unfamiliar with the current terminology related to the placebo and nocebo phenomena observed in clinical trials and practice, nor with the factors that modulate them. To cover the gap, the European Headache Federation appointed a panel of experts to clarify the terms associated...
Expectancies can shape pain and other experiences. Generally, experiences change in the direction of what is expected (i.e., assimilation effects), as seen with placebo effects. However, in case of large expectation-experience discrepancies, experiences might change away from what is expected (i.e., contrast effects). Previous research has demonstr...
Cancer survivors are more at risk for physical and psychological health problems than the general population. Regular aerobic physical activity can mitigate these risks, but survivors frequently fail to engage in recommended levels of physical activity. In the present study, we propose and test a moderated-mediation model of physical activity of ca...
Two studies were conducted to examine the relationship between three different types of intergroup contact (i.e., direct contact, extended contact, and online contact) and outgroup evaluation, and the moderating effect of group status and sociopolitical contexts across two cultural contexts. A total of 75 European Americans (majority) and 44 Chines...
Background:
Placebo analgesia studies generally reported that the actual use of a placebo analgesic reduces pain. Yeung, Geers, and Kam (2019) found that the mere possession (without-use) of a placebo analgesic also reduces pain.
Purpose:
We investigated the relative effectiveness of using vs. possessing a placebo analgesic on pain outcomes.
Me...
Objective: Research with non-cancer survivor populations finds affective variables to be important determinants of physical activity. This study assessed the ability of explicit and implicit affective variables to predict the physical activity of cancer survivors, above that accounted for by cognitive variables. The study also tested whether the af...
Background
Choice has been found to facilitate placebo effects for single-session treatments where standard placebo treatment without choice failed to elicit a placebo effect. However, it is unknown whether choice can enhance the placebo effect for treatments occurring over a period of days and where placebo effects are readily established without...
Background:
Yeung et al. (2017) proposed that merely possessing a placebo analgesic may reduce pain. Study 1 directly compared the effect of using vs. possessing a placebo analgesic (compared to controls) on pain-resilience. Second, Geers et al. (2015) found that a placebo analgesic leads to greater pain-reduction for participants without a relate...
Introduction:. Placebo analgesia often results when a pain reduction treatment message is delivered to a patient or research participant. Little information exists regarding the psychological changes that are immediately triggered by the delivery of a treatment message.
Objectives:. This experiment tested the impact of 3 different analgesic treatme...
Background
Currently, little is known about the implicit evaluations that cancer survivors have for health behaviors, such as eating fruits and vegetables. Understanding both the implicit and explicit evaluations of fruit and vegetable consumption among cancer survivors may aid future interventions for changing motivations and intentions in this hi...
There is an ethical obligation to notify individuals about potential pain associated with diagnoses, treatments, and procedures; however, supplying this information risks inducing nocebo hyperalgesia. Currently there are few empirically-derived strategies for reducing nocebo hyperalgesia. Since nocebo effects are linked to negative affectivity, we...
Placebo analgesia is a robust phenomenon readily observed in both experimental and clinical settings. While researchers have begun to unpack its psychobiological mechanisms, important questions remain regarding how we can capitalize on the placebo effect to improve clinical pain outcomes. The current study tested whether providing individuals with...
Background
Providing treatment side effect information can increase the occurrence of side effects through nocebo effects. Nocebo effects from side effect information raise a dilemma for health care, as there is an ethical obligation to disclose potential unpleasant treatment information to patients.
Purpose
To test the hypothesis that a positive...
Although critical for informed consent, side effect warnings can contribute directly to poorer patient outcomes because they often induce negative expectations that trigger nocebo side effects. Communication strategies that reduce the development of nocebo side effects whilst maintaining informed consent are therefore of considerable interest. We r...
Placebo effects are the measurable psychological, biological, and behavioral changes that can result from expecting a treatment to be effective. Here we argue that not all expectations are created equally and there is much to learn by clarifying the psychological processes that underlie the expectations that cause placebo effects. It is proposed th...
Background
One contributing factor to the development of nocebo effects is information provided about possible side effects. However, nondisclosure of information can be problematic.
Purpose
We assessed whether positively framed side effect information (highlighting likelihood of not experiencing side effects) can reduce nocebo effects compared to...
Millions of individuals world-wide adhere to a gluten-free diet and this dietary trend is on the rise. The present research identified a consumption stereotype of those following a gluten-free diet and tested whether this stereotype influenced impressions and interest in a potential romantic partner. We also assessed whether being gluten-free diffe...
Despite the promise of research-based treatments, dissemination into community settings has been problematic. Attitudes toward these treatments may be partially responsible for the slow uptake. Building on the functional theory of attitudes, it was hypothesized that presenting emotion-focused rather than cognitively-focused information about a trea...
Background:
Placebo and nocebo effects occur in clinical or laboratory medical contexts after administration of an inert treatment or as part of active treatments and are due to psychobiological mechanisms such as expectancies of the patient. Placebo and nocebo studies have evolved from predominantly methodological research into a far-reaching int...
Objectives: This study tested whether choice over ostensibly different exercise bike programs alters the positivity of an exercise experience, attitudes towards exercising, post-exercise mood, intentions to engage in exercise in the future, and desire to receive more information about exercise. Further we assessed whether the influence of choice-ma...
Research has consistently shown that regular physical activity may protect against the development and maintenance of depression and anxiety, whereas sedentary behavior may exacerbate depression and anxiety. However, much of the past research in this area has focused on non-clinical populations. Therefore, the goal of this study was to examine the...
Placebo effects, or positive outcomes resulting from expectations about a treatment, are powerful components of modern medical care. In this chapter, we suggest that our understanding of placebo effects may benefit from more explicitly connecting this phenomenon to the existing empirical psychological literature on persuasion. Persuasion typically...
BACKGROUND: Reports from the CDC showed that cervical cancer screening has declined by 5.5% from 2008-2013. This is concerning considering that Healthy People 2020 states a 93% cervical cancer screening rate as its’ objective. This study used a modified Integrated Behavioral Model (IBM) to predict women’s non-adherence to Pap test screening nationa...
Objective:
Affective associations are key predictors of health-relevant action that can mediate the relationships between cognitive variables and health behavior. Little data, however, has examined affective associations in high-risk groups, the individuals with the greatest need for intervention. Further, few studies have examined the unique pred...
Practitioners and clinical researchers are ethically bound to inform individuals about possible undesired treatment effects; however, the very provision of this information risks elevating the likelihood of those adverse effects, a phenomenon called the noceb oeffect. Developing experimental models of this phenomenon and identifying communication s...
An experiment was conducted to examine whether the mere possession of a placebo analgesic cream would affect perceived pain intensity in a laboratory pain-perception test. Healthy participants read a medical explanation of pain aimed at inducing a desire to seek pain relief and then were informed that a placebo cream was an effective analgesic drug...
An experiment was conducted to examine whether the mere possession of a placebo analgesic cream would affect perceived pain intensity in a laboratory pain-perception test. Healthy participants read a medical explanation of pain aimed at inducing a desire to seek pain relief and then were informed that a placebo cream was an effective analgesic drug...
An experiment was conducted to examine whether the mere possession of a placebo analgesic cream would affect perceived pain intensity in a laboratory pain-perception test. Healthy participants read a medical explanation of pain aimed at inducing a desire to seek pain relief and then were informed that a placebo cream was an effective analgesic drug...
Background: The economic burden associated with cervical cancer in the U.S. is estimated 300-400 million dollars in direct costs. Healthy People 2020 Objective C-15 points the nation's aim to increase the proportion of adult women who receive a cervical cancer screening to 93%. To identify the associated factors that can help increase Pap test, thi...
Men have higher morbidity and mortality rates than women across the life span. One potential explanation for this gap is greater pressure for men to express their masculine toughness. Situations that threaten masculinity often result in compensatory behaviors (e.g., binge drinking) geared toward proving toughness. The present research tested the hy...
Prior research indicates that making choices before a painful task can sometimes reduce pain. We examined the possibility that independent and interdependent self-construals moderate the effect of choice on pain. Further, we tested between two types of choice: instrumental and non-instrumental. Healthy normotensive undergraduates were randomly assi...
Many clinicians report less than favorable attitudes regarding the use of Empirically Supported Treatments (ESTs). To better understand attitudes toward ESTs we examined the relationship among social–cognitive factors, career choices, and attitudes toward ESTs. Mental health professionals completed measures assessing need for cognition (NFC), decis...
This study examines how affective associations and cognitive beliefs are related to diet and physical activity in adolescents.
Objective
This study examines how affective associations and cognitive beliefs are related to diet and physical activity in adolescents.
Design, Setting and Participants
A convenience sample of approximately 1500 students...
Objective: Evaluate the effectiveness of the Stellar Farmers' Market (SFM) program. Design, Setting and Participants: Mixed-methods including focus groups and a quasi-experiment comparing a control group of market shoppers who had never attended an SFM class, participants who had attended one class, and participants who had attended two or more cla...
Prior research has revealed that having choice over treatments can improve their efficacy. However, it is currently unknown if the benefits of treatment choice hold for complex decisions and different cultures. The effects of differing numbers of treatment options were explored across two cultural contexts: United States and Japan. Participants wer...
Abstract Subjective social status (SSS) has been shown to predict well-being and mental health, above and beyond objective social status (OSS). However, little is known about the factors that moderate this relationship. Two studies explored whether the link between SSS and well-being varied depending upon the referent used for comparison in SSS jud...
Abstract Research indicates that when confronted with a health threat, individuals high in both dispositional and comparative optimism employ a more avoidant style of coping than individuals high in dispositional but low in comparative optimism. We examined the hypothesis that threat distance moderates this interactive optimism association. In two...
Background:
Prior research has found affect to predict exercise. Little research has examined the causal influence of exercise-related affect on exercise intentions.
Purpose:
The purpose of this study was to test whether expectations about post-exercise affect can be successfully manipulated to produce changes in post-exercise affect and exercis...
Placebo effects are important in pain reduction, but the effects are inconsistent. Prior experience with a pain stimulus may moderate placebo analgesia. The current study tests the effect of prior experience with a pain stimulus on placebo analgesia during a laboratory pain task. Healthy normotensive undergraduates (66 women, 68 men) who either did...
Purpose of review:
Recent articles have summarized the literature on the neurobiological mechanisms involved in placebo effects. In this article, we review and evaluate the status of the psychological mechanisms in theory and research regarding placebo effects.
Recent findings:
Currently, the placebo effect literature concentrates more on neurob...
Blood is a valuable resource, but most people do not donate. One deterrent to blood donation is the anticipation of vasovagal symptoms (e.g., dizziness, nausea, and fainting), despite the fact that such symptoms typically affect a small proportion of donors. The current research examined norm perceptions regarding vasovagal symptom experiences and...