Âé¶¹´«Ã½

Letter: Placebo theory

Published 19 September 2012

From Nicholas Humphrey

I’d like to respond to your report on the creation of a mathematical model that supports my evolutionary psychology theory of the placebo effect (8 September, p 9). I welcome this development, but it just formalises a logically strong argument I put forward 10 years ago, supported by a wealth of facts.

In the story you refer to me as a retired psychologist. I am no more a retired psychologist than Stephen Hawking is a retired cosmologist. I am as active as ever, and I have a about the evolution of healing in the journal Current Biology (the paper can also be found on my website, ).

Cambridge, UK

Issue no. 2883 published 22 September 2012

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