Genetic placebo effect on psychological resilience: the moderating role of self-compassion

The genetic placebo effect comprises the gene-related psychological, physiological and behavioral changes resulting from merely receiving genetic information. Our research investigated the genetic placebo effect on psychological resilience when taking the impact of genes into consideration and investigating the moderating effect of self-compassion on the genetic placebo effect. In experiment 1, participants' psychological resilience was measured before (or after) receiving genetic feedback about psychological resilience. We observed a weak genetic placebo effect independent of the impact of genes, as indexed by higher correlation between the genetic score and psychological resilience score in the after-feedback group. Self-compassion moderated the genetic placebo effect, and participants with higher self-compassion were more sensitive to genetic feedback. These findings were replicated in experiment 2, in which we randomly gave genetic feedback to participants, reporting genetic predispositions of high or low psychological resilience. Our research offers insight into the use of genetic testing and feedback.

Automated summary

This research investigates the genetic placebo effect on psychological resilience, taking into consideration the impact of genes and the moderating effect of self-compassion. The study finds a weak genetic placebo effect and shows that self-compassion moderates this effect.