Psychology alumnus explores little-known psychological phenomenon in new book highlighted in TIME magazine

Michael Bernstein ’11 has dedicated his career to understanding how subconscious expectations can impact health. For example, many people are familiar with the placebo effect, where a person experiences a benefit, such as the alleviation of pain, because they believe it will occur. As the editor of The Nocebo Effect: When Words Make You Sick, Bernstein and coeditors, Charlotte Blease, Cosima Locher, and Walter A. Brown, helped to explain the less well-known, but just as powerful, “nocebo effect,” where a negative outcome or side effect occurs because a person believes that it will occur. The first book exclusively on the topic, the work explains both how this effect functions and how it can be ethically mitigated by medical professionals. The authors also wrote an article published in TIME magazine in April, introducing audiences to the topic.

The idea for the book was originally proposed to Bernstein by his colleague, Walter A. Brown. “Brown noticed that while there were several books and popular news articles about the placebo effect, very little had been written about the nocebo effect,” Bernstein explained. A collaborative effort between several researchers, with Bernstein serving as editor, the book aims to bring information about the nocebo effect to a wider audience, especially those who may not have a background in medicine or psychological research. 

As a psychology major at Wooster, Bernstein set the stage for his career by taking part in mentored research that gave him skills both in conducting psychological studies and communicating results with a wider audience. “In particular, the experience of I.S. gives students the opportunity to develop a research question and formulate a method for answering it. My early exposure to the research process allowed me to enter graduate school well-prepared for doing a thesis and dissertation,” he said. Bernstein received a master’s degree, doctoral degree, and postdoctoral fellowship in psychology from the University of Rhode Island before serving as an assistant professor in the Department of Diagnostic Imaging at Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School. He also serves as the director of the Medical Expectations Lab at Brown University, a lab specifically dedicated to understanding how expectations and the placebo effect impact health. 

Ultimately, Bernstein believes that a better understanding of the nocebo effect is not only beneficial to the scientific community, but also to people in the wider world as they navigate the medical system. “A doctor’s first duty is to ‘do no harm.’ We need to understand how patients may be negatively impacted, even if unintentionally, by what a provider says,” he explained. “We hope that after reading the book, people will gain a greater appreciation for the fact that expectations are powerful.” 

This feature originally appeared in the Summer 2024 issue of Wooster magazine.

Posted in Alumni, Magazine on June 8, 2024.