Expectancy and belief influence the emotional components and the health information of acupuncture modality

We investigated whether expectancy towards acupuncture would be associated with the emotional components and the health information of acupuncture. Ninety-two participants were assessed with the acupuncture belief scale (ABS). They rated the valence, expected pain, and fear to three kinds of needle images, including acupuncture, syringe, and sewing needle. They were randomly divided and asked to rate the feasibility of acupuncture-related newspaper headline including either positive (positive group; n = 51) or negative (negative group, n = 41) articles. There was a significant positive correlation between the ABS and the valence for acupuncture needle (r = 0.317, p < 0.01), whereas a significant negative correlation between the ABS and the expected pain (r = -0.248, p < 0.05) and the fear (r = -0.302, p < 0.01) for acupuncture needle, but not other needles. Participants with higher expectancy towards acupuncture rated higher feasibility in response to the positive articles (r = 0.499, p < 0.001), whereas lower feasibility in response to the negative articles (r = 0.338, p< 0.05). These results indicate that higher expectancy toward acupuncture exhibit more valenced, less painful and fearful responses to the acupuncture needle. Our findings also suggest that information processing regarding health information might be influenced by the pre-occupied belief and expectancy towards medical treatment.