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placebo

(Science: pharmacology) Any dummy medical treatment, originally, a medicinal preparation having no specific pharmacological activity against the patients illness or complaint given solely for the psychophysiological effects of the treatment, more recently, a dummy treatment administered to the control group in a controlled clinical trial in order that the specific and non-specific effects of the experimental treatment can be distinguished i.e., the experimental treatment must produce better results than the placebo in order to be considered effective. An innocuous or inert medication; given as a pacifier or to the control group in experiments on the efficacy of a drug.An inactive substance given to a patient to satisfy an apparent psychological need.