Question: Do placebos really work? Researchers in Japan conducted an experiment on 13 individuals who were extremely allergic to poison ivy. On one arm, each subject was rubbed with a poison ivy leaf and told the leaf was harmless. On the other arm, each subject was rubbed with a harmless leaf and told it was poison ivy. All the subjects developed a rash on the arm where the harmless leaf was rubbed. Of the 13 subjects, 11 did not have any reaction to the real poison ivy leaf.40 Explain how the results of this study support the idea of a placebo effect.