THE MAGIC OF SCIENCE AND THE SCIENCE OF MAGIC - AN ESSAY ON THE PROCESS OF HEALING

The field of medical sociology has developed rapidly in recent years i n sophistication of conceptualization and research techniques. Nonethe less, there remains a considerable amount of ''unexplained variance'' in knowledge about health and illness behaviors. This paper asserts th at to grow further, medical sociology should become more interdiscipli nary in conceptualization and design of research projects. The applica tion of research findings from the field of psychoneuroimmunology to e xplain the effects of placebos as a form of magic is used as an illust ration.