Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2023 October 2

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October 2

"I do it because it feels good"

Jane Doe knows that aromatherapy has no basis in science, but she engages in it for psychological reasons: she's been really sad lately, so she thinks the nice smells can help her feel happier.

When we do something medically useless because it's pleasant, like Jane Doe is doing here, what's a term for it? The placebo effect discusses something different, where you seemingly improve when taking something that you think might be effective — not where you intentionally do something even though you know it won't directly have an effect. Nyttend (talk) 10:39, 2 October 2023 (UTC)

Recreational drug use? It doesn't have to involve harmful substances. -- Verbarson  ^talk_edits 12:25, 2 October 2023 (UTC)

So, how does exposing oneself to pleasant smells conceptually and physiologically differ from exposing oneself to pleasant sounds, such as birdsong or music? Or pleasant sights such as a garden, park, or seascape? These are hardly describable as 'recreational drugs'.

I see what Nyttend is getting at here, and it seems to me to be a common human behaviour: there's surely a name for it.

Deliberately and knowingly using (what for the moment I will call) the placebo effect on oneself, exploiting one's own unconscious but known-of psychological and physiological reactions, is a major aspect of the 'craft' aspect of modern witchcraft [says this Wiccan]. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.212.130.182 (talk) 17:44, 2 October 2023 (UTC)

Our articles at Subject-expectancy effect and Self-fulfilling prophecy seem germane, but at some it becomes about proving that relaxing things relax people. Jane enjoys smelling nice things, Bob enjoys listening to white noise, Ahmed likes watching birds. I'm not sure further explanation is really needed. Matt Deres (talk) 18:37, 2 October 2023 (UTC)

The question does not ask for an explanation, but for a name.  --Lambiam 21:33, 2 October 2023 (UTC)

This feels like a false premise scenario. I realize this is a ref desk and not an article, but what are your sources that say that nice smells can't improve someone's mood? Who says that something that is pleasant is medically useless? --Onorem (talk) 18:45, 2 October 2023 (UTC)

Jane engages in a therapy in spite of her belief that it lacks a scientific basis. For the question whether there is a linguistic label for such behaviour, it is not relevant whether her belief is correct. I have met people taking holy water for ailments while well aware that no scientific test can discern a difference with tap water.  --Lambiam 21:30, 2 October 2023 (UTC)

There are lots of things which are pleasant but uncorrelated with medicine ("medically useless") and Jane is presumably undertaking aromatherapy because she likes, or expects to like, it. There are many terms for engaging in pleasant non-medical activites. 2A01:E0A:D60:3500:2E65:7281:7004:C5D0 (talk) 11:33, 3 October 2023 (UTC)

Hedonism may not be the best term but that article covers much of what has been discussed here. Mike Turnbull (talk) 11:41, 3 October 2023 (UTC)

This appears to be a form of "chilling out" [1]. 2A02:C7B:10C:3200:A89E:70FA:13B5:5106 (talk) 11:53, 3 October 2023 (UTC)

At least in the UK, oncologists are generally supposed to be supportive of medically useless (and harmless) activities, even while medical treatment is ongoing. This comes under Alternative medicine and Complementary medicine, and there are lots of types. There may well be pschological benefits, which may be significant. Johnbod (talk) 15:19, 3 October 2023 (UTC)