Associate Professor Kate Faasse

My main research area focuses on the nocebo effect – the dark side of the placebo effect – where negative expectations can cause unpleasant side effects. My research explores how nocebo effects form, and how we can stop them. 

More broadly, my work looks at psychological and social factors that influence health and treatment beliefs and outcomes. My goal is to do research that helps us better understand the mind-body factors that contribute to treatment outcomes.

I'm currently working on a number of projects that relate to nocebo effects, placebo effects (including open-label placebo effects - placebos can make you feel better even when you know you're taking a placebo), generic medicines, explicit and implicit treatment expectations, Breast Implant Illness, health misinformation, and the role of social media in health beliefs and treatment decisions. I take a methodologically-flexible approach, and am open to finding different methods and strategies to better understand these research topics. My work to date uses laboratory-based experimental approaches as well as naturalistic (e.g. social media analyses) and quasi-experimental methods.