Case study: the nocebo effect of stress

Study Context

Stress in the Financial World: A revelatory study by Alia Crum and her team focused on employees at a large financial firm during the 2008 economic crisis.

This was an environment of extreme stress, with mass layoffs and enormous uncertainty.

The study sought to investigate whether changing employees’ mindsets about stress could affect their cognitive, emotional, and physiological responses.

The Intervention

Two Opposing Mindsets: The researchers divided the employees into two groups.

One group was shown videos and given information that framed stress as empowering: a helpful response that improves performance and resilience.

The other group (the control group) was given no intervention, assuming they already possessed the culturally dominant mindset: that stress is debilitating and damaging.

Results Expected and Unexpected

As expected, the group that received the "stress is empowering" mindset showed better psychological and physiological outcomes.

They felt more motivated, performed better, and their stress hormone profiles were healthier.

However, the most profound and surprising finding came from the control group.

The researchers expected that by showing them a second set of videos, this time emphasizing that stress is harmful, their results would worsen.

But they didn't. Their results didn't change.

The Deep Conclusion

We Already Live in Nocebo: Why Didn't They Get Worse? Crum's conclusion was that the cultura