Here's a psychology paper (pdf) about the success of offering question-begging reasons to use a copier. The psychologists dubbed these nonsense reasons "placebic information."
Warning: my explanation of that study is a bit oversimplified. Here's an excellent explanation of what the study actually showed in the service of a larger point: even the most careful of us unintentionally distort and oversimplify the results of scientific studies.
I couldn't resist giving you some stuff on begging the question: 
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