SAT OwlQuestion bank / Central Ideas and Details
Placebos, inactive treatments such as sugar pills, are generally thought to work only when patients believe they are receiving real medicine. A study of patients with irritable bowel syndrome tested that assumption. Researchers told one group plainly that their pills contained no active ingredients, while explaining that placebos had produced improvement in earlier studies. After three weeks, these patients reported significantly greater relief than an untreated group did. The results do not show that deception is never useful, but they suggest that it may not be required for a placebo to help.
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
The study showed that placebos work better when patients are misled about what they are taking.
The study found that irritable bowel syndrome cannot be treated with active medicines.
The study demonstrated that deceiving patients is never useful in medical treatment.
The study suggests that a placebo can help patients even when they know it contains no active ingredients.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D
The study challenged the assumption that placebos work only through belief in real medicine. Patients who knew they were taking inactive pills still reported more relief than untreated patients. The final sentence concludes that deception may not be required, choice D.
Choice C overreaches: the text says directly that the results "do not show that deception is never useful."
Why the other choices are wrong
- A. The study found that patients who knew they were taking inactive pills still improved, contradicting the claim that deception makes placebos work better.
- B. The text discusses the effectiveness of placebos, not the inability of active medicines to treat irritable bowel syndrome.
- C. The passage explicitly states that the results do not show deception is never useful, making this absolute claim an overreach.
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