Quote:
Originally Posted by kommisar
My question is at what point does a simulated state of mind or feeling become real?
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The short answer: when it's demonstrated to be real.
Longer answer that goes into several topics:
The "tickling" sensation you feel when watching ASMR is most likely just reflexive, the same way you'd flinch or feel pain if suddenly a loud piercing shrill blasted into your ear suddenly, or cringe when you see someone hurting themselves very seriously in a video. So in this sense, there is most definitely a sensory response to these things, and is probably a huge part of what leads people to think the video is "doing something".
That kind of placebo stems from a reflexive response, but then there is also a different kind of behavioral response that stems from habit. When you go see the chiropractor, your expectation is that you have a problem, you see a doctor of some kind, and he fixes your problem. When it is not clear to yourself how you determine whether or not you have the problem, it is easy to just accept that expectation and believe your problem is fixed.
So in these cases, the only thing at work is probably the placebo effect, which may or may not work depending on what the problem is. From testing, we know what placebo is effective on and what it's not effective on, and chances are whatever your problems were, placebo was effective on them. (If it wasn't effective and serious, you would've went to a real doctor)