placebo effect
There seems to be some symbolic precedent for this in the Bible...most notably the story of Samson and Delilah. Did Samson become disempowered because Delilah cut his hair, or because he knew Delilah cut his hair? If Delilah had quietly cut his hair while he was sleeping and then wrapped his head in a turban before he awoke, would he have been just as strong as before? Would he have then lost his strength upon unfurling the turban to see his cropped hair? Or was it the fact that Delilah was the one who cut his hair that disempowered him so? Would another hair-cutter of indifferent personage have had the same effect on him? A very simple sounding parable on the surface, until you start scratching a little deeper, eh?
