PLACEBO-EFFECTIVE OR INEFFECTIVE

I recently watched the latest Rajkummar Rao and Nushrat Bharucha starrer film, ‘Chhalaang’. Set in a small town in Haryana, it is the story of a school PTI and his unconventional training methods. The beginning of the film establishes the lead character as an extremely lazy and complacent fellow who is uninspired and unprofessional. But as the story progresses, we see him evolve when faced with stiff competition due to the entry of a new sports coach. The risk of losing his job, self-respect and the love of his life, makes him pull up his socks. To prove his credibility and coaching skills, he goes on to challenge the new PTI with a three - sport competition wherein both the PTI’s are to choose and train their teams. In order to impress the female lead, the hero chooses to train a significantly weaker team of students, thus calling upon himself a task of extreme difficulty. As the story moves forward, we witness various problems he faces and the unorthodox training regimes, such as running from guard dogs to increase speed, catching loose chickens to increase agility, and dribbling a basketball through a cow dung minefield to increase dribbling ability, that he resorts to. In one of the dramatic scenes, Rajkummar Rao is seen leaving a pack of dreaded guard dogs behind his team of children to make them practice running fast, after he brings them to pluck and savor guavas in a ‘amrood ka bagicha’. Furthermore, after seeing this trick work during practice, he uses the barking sound of those dogs in the final race to revive the fear in one of the children to ensure he runs really fast and eventually wins the race. The movie ends predictably on a happy note with the team of weaker students winning the competition.

Things like these seldom happen in real life and are too filmy to be true, but using threats or fear of extreme repercussions as a trigger to bring out the best in children is not an unpopular practice. We are all aware of the significant link between motivation and performance. But unfortunately, we often get too carried away and overstep, in giving them that extra nudge, and forget about treating them right. Understanding a child’s psychological needs, saying the right things at the right time in the right way to condition their impressionable mind goes a long way in motivating them. Different kids have different needs and different motivating techniques work at different times. For some, an appreciation or a pat on the back is enough to perform better the next time and for some the fear of being punished seems the only way. For a child who came last in race, an appreciation for participating might motivate him to perform better the next time and for a child who did badly in academics, the fear of failing in class and being left behind his classmates might help him study harder. Whatever the technique may be, what needs to be taken care of is the correct use of ‘false treatment’.

False treatments, whether false appreciation to motivate or false threats to discipline with an intention of pushing children out of their comfort zones and testing their own boundaries is a very commonly practiced parenting behaviour which, in my opinion, works like ‘placebo’. 

Placebo in medical science, as we would know, is a fake medicine or a mock procedure that appears to be a corrective intervention, but actually isn’t and is prescribed to a patient for psychological benefit rather than any physiological one. Placebos are inert substances, like sugar pills and saline injections that are administered to convince patients into thinking they are getting real treatment and that they will get better, only to encourage the body’s own chemical process to cope with the pain and other symptoms. Clinical trials involving usage of placebos instead of painkillers have shown that administering placebo to patients who believed they were receiving an analgesic (pain-relieving) medication actually led to the release of endorphins, the pain relieving hormone in their bodies. In another study, placebo given to patients with Parkinson’s disease had shown to reactivate the release of hormone and neurotransmitter - Dopamine, thus causing the symptoms of the disease to subside. The efficacy of a placebo depends on various complex cognitive and behavioural factors and is seen to range widely, from 15% in some cases to 72% in others. And though it helps create a positive therapeutic effect, what also needs to be understood is, it does not cure a patient; it only makes them feel better.

Coming back to indulging in false behaviours with children; many parents and teachers today resort to false praises all the time, as they believe the only way to build their children's self-esteem is to tell them how good they are at things. The purpose of praise is to encourage children to continue to engage in positive behaviors that produce positive outcomes. But praising a child unnecessarily and in undeserving circumstances might lead to highly negative consequences. A false praise, gives children an unrealistic sense of achievement, thereby increasing narcissism and reducing resilience. A false praise will lack specificity about what they did right and what they did wrong leaving them confused and closing paths of improvement. Similarly, fear of false consequence might seem to work sometimes, but in the long run it will not motivate children to show interest in learning new things. Citing the example from the movie, the fear of dogs running behind might force kids to run fast a few times, but it might not motivate them to learn how to run or become successful sportspersons. Even worse, it might give them a false sense that they do not need to be trained.

This certainly does not mean that we stop thinking about a child’s ‘feel good factor’ altogether. When a child is unwell, his mother’s assurance that he will get better soon will act as a boon. Parent’s or teachers’ appreciation (even if false) might give a child the strength to not give up and try again even after a few failed attempts. During pre - primary and primary schooling years, kids are usually not capable of grasping all that they are taught. Being able to comprehend ‘shape, size and colour’ or ‘position, strategy and speed’ all at the same time might be taxing. And the realization of not being able to do it, disheartens and even irritates them. In such situations, an appreciative hug or an encouraging gesture even after an unsuccessful attempt, from an elder will make a child feel better and work as an incentive continue the process of trying and learning.

Another thing that children of all ages find difficult to deal with is seeing someone else perform better. While it is essential for them to understand that there will always be people more proficient than them, it is also essential for them to believe in their own potential and their ability to enhance it. And this is where an elder’s constant support and assurance will help. Appreciating a child (even without being completely honest) to persuade him, might actually inspire him to perform better than anyone would have expected. Children respond positively and work harder when they know someone believes in them. Thus, even when we aren’t sure whether we believe in the child, showing that we do, might work wonders. Sometimes the beginning of a child’s turning around might be a result of a sincere but false appreciation which the child believes to be true. Even in adults the psychological theory of ‘fake it till you make it’ is proven to work. But what needs to be kept in mind is these psychological factors do not work in isolation and are not mutually exclusive and that there is a very thin line between being sentimental and a flat out lie. What seems to be a more effective technique, is showing that you trust their talent (even if you don’t), appreciating the efforts put in and constructively criticizing areas which need improvement. And though, children will not like receiving criticisms, it is will act as real medicine in their lives.

Similarly, threats as a reactive tool might seem the easiest way to push children to perform and in the short run, it might even seem to work. But its overuse will eventually drive children away, making them thick skinned. Sometimes to push children into exploring new areas, threats might be the only way to help them overcome their fears. But if a child is having real problems perform, our responsibility as teachers and parents is to identify the issue and treat it. Using false threats as a permanent answer to tackle a child’s laziness, would be wrong. Punishments at times are very important to maintain discipline but simply threatening to punish and not going through with it will eventually make the threats ineffective. Moreover, the fear of being punished seldom helps children work on the quality of their work. The key here might be using threats only to the extent that neither does it create an atmosphere of permanent fear nor does it lead to absolute anarchy.

To conclude I would say, placebos whether in the field of medicine or psychology might not be a permanent solution, but would help mellow down undesirable symptoms. Exercising the right kind of placebo behaviour (when required) like pretending to believe in a child’s potential and appreciating efforts rather than outcome; disciplining with a threat but assuring to believe in his capabilities (even if we don’t) are measures probable of giving positive outcomes. These will help increase the level of motivation and create a stronger connection between the brain and body to function more effectively. And although, deeper problems will eventually need to be treated with real medicines (i.e. corrective actions), placebos will create a hopeful environment for the cure to be carried out more fruitfully. As teachers and parents, it is thus imperative for us to identify the right mix of real medicines/advice and placebos for each child, individually.