You Better Believe it

Did you know that studies have clearly shown that painkillers are more effective when they are red in colour (1)?  And the same painkiller medicine is also more effective when it is expensive, rather than cheap?   This well-known but nevertheless surprising placebo effect has caused some controversy, including, an Australian legal case, where packets of identical Nurofen pain relief pills were sold with different packaging - with some packs being twice as much as others.  In 2015 a court decided this was misleading consumers because the drug was actually the same in each case.

It may seem like a rip-off to pay twice as much for the same medicine, but then, if paying more actually makes the drug work better (as studies have show) then isn’t that a great way to help people?  If you can reduce pain with specific words and narratives on the packaging, rather than stronger chemicals, isn’t that a good thing?  

So in this case, what we believe about the medicine really matters because some beliefs make the medicine more effective.  And this was very much in my mind the other day, when a parent asked me the other day why I am so relentlessly positive about school.  The immediate answer was obvious; I have worked in many schools, seen many systems and am proud of what we are doing. There are, of course, always things to improve, but this is the type of education I want for my own children and  - if I had my way - for all children everywhere.

This does not apply to everything, of course.  But it probably does to education.   source

But the medicine example shows an equally important reason to be positive; and it involves understanding that our beliefs about education determine how effective it is, just as they do with in medicine. Any student or teacher who thinks school is a wonderful place is clearly going to put a lot more into, and get a lot more out of school.  That doesn’t mean we don’t acknowledge where we need to do better but it does mean we really should approach it all positively and with assurance that students are getting a fine education, and with determination to be even better.  It’s why I am always somewhat cheesy talking with my own kids on the way into school in the morning - because I know any emotions and perspectives I share with them will seep into their memories, experiences and hence expectations and ultimately, their satisfaction and  achievement at school. It's the words that generate a positive attitude that really do make the learning better - and so much cheaper than tuition :-)

At some level, this back to the old glass half full, glass half empty thing; and no-one has updated this idea better than Colin Powell, who knows a thing or two about hard times:

The ripple effect of a leader's enthusiasm and optimism is awesome. So is the impact of cynicism and pessimism. Leaders who whine and blame engender those same behaviors among their colleagues. I am not talking about stoically accepting organizational stupidity and performance incompetence with a 'what, me worry?' smile. I am talking about a gung-ho attitude that says 'we can change things here, we can achieve awesome goals, we can be the best.'  Spare me the grim litany of the ‘realist’, give me the unrealistic aspirations of the optimist any day.

Reference

(1) Interestingly, sleeping pills are more effective if they are blue  - except for Italians! One speculative reason for this is because the national soccer team had a blue strip - hence the colour of excitement, not somnolence.

• Ruz, C. and Alemoru, K. (2015) The strange psychology of pain relief medicine.  BBC News

• Sutherland, R. (2020) Placebos and Behaviour ChangeThe Weekend University