INFORMATIVE SPEECH OUTLINE TEMPLATE
Title: The Placebo Effect
General Purpose: To educate the audience on the basics of the Placebo Effect
Specific Purpose: To educate the audience about the Placebo Effect, how it works, its overall
potential, importance to medicine, and ethical arguments.
Central Idea: Placebo Effect
I. INTRODUCTION
● Attention device: Quote- “The idea that your brain can convince your body a fake
treatment is the real thing — the so-called placebo effect — and thus stimulate healing
has been around for millennia.”
B. Central Idea/Reveal Topic: Today, I want to talk about a fascinating phenomenon
known as the placebo effect.
C. Speaker Credibility: Harvard Medical school/quoting a credible source
D. Reason to Listen: This concept is not only important in medicine but also reveals
much about the power of the mind and its connection to how we perceive feelings such as pain.
E. Preview of Main Points: Today I will speak about what the placebo effect is, how it
works, why it's important in regard to the medical field, and the ethical controversies
surrounding the topic.
Connective: So, what is the Placebo Effect?
II. BODY
A. Main Point - Simply put, the placebo effect occurs when a person experiences real
improvements in their health after receiving a treatment that causes no real scientific alterations
to affect them.
Subpoints
1. The use of sugar pills and saline injection.
2. What are the origins of the term Placebo?
3. Include when the effect gained attention.
Connective:
B. How does the placebo effect work?
Subpoints
1. Psychological factors.
2. Physiological factors.
3. Validity of the effect.
Connective:
C. Context in the medical field.
Subpoints
1. The placebo effect plays a crucial role in most of the world's medical research.
2. Ethical questions surrounding the topic (touch on briefly)
3. It is a heavily debated topic.
Connective:
D. Ethics (IN DEPTH)
Subpoints
1. Could it enhance care?
2. What are the possible downsides?
3. Recovery and connection to the brain.
III. CONCLUSION
A. Summary of Main Points: In this lecture, we covered what the placebo effect is, how
it works, why it's important in regard to the medical field, and the ethical controversies
surrounding the topic.
B. Exit Line: Thank you for your attention. If you have any questions or would like to
discuss this topic further, I would be more than willing to talk about the subject more with you.
Works Cited
Hrobjartsson, A., & Gotzsche, P. C. (2001). Questioning “the powerful placebo.” PsycEXTRA
Dataset. https://doi.org/10.1037/e329992004-007
Wager, T. D., & Atlas, L. Y. (2015). The neuroscience of placebo effects: Connecting context,
learning and health. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 16(7), 403–418.
https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3976
Benedetti, F., et al. (2005). The biochemical mechanisms of the placebo response - The Journal
of Clinical Investigation.
Kaptchuk, T. J. (2001). The placebo effect in alternative medicine: Can the performance of a
healing ritual have clinical significance?
Finniss, D. G., et al. (2010). Biological, clinical, and ethical advances of placebo effects- The
Lancet.
Howard E. LeWine, MD (2024). Harvard Health Publishing; Editorial Advisory Board Member,
Harvard Health Publishing: The power of the placebo effect.
