Doctors are seen as Godlike: Moral typecasting in medicine.

OBJECTIVE: Doctors are generally thought of as very intelligent and capable. This perception has upsides-doctors are afforded respect and esteem-but it may also have downsides, such as neglecting the mental and physical health of physicians. Two studies examine how Americans "typecast" doctors as Godlike "thinkers" who help others, rather than as vulnerable "feelers" who might themselves need help. METHOD AND RESULTS: Study 1 examines how a representative sample of Americans (N = 681) view the mental capacities of doctors compared to other targets (including patients, other workers, and God). Result show that people see physicians as highly capable of the thinking-related capacities of thinking, remembering, self-control, and planning (equal to that of God), but less capable of the feeling-related capacities of experiencing fear, pain, embarrassment, and hunger. Study 2 (N = 451) examines whether physician typecasting impacts other domains. People believe that, relative to the average working professional, physicians are better able to ignore physical and mental health issues, and physician job performance is less impacted by bodily and emotional limitations. DISCUSSION: We discuss implications for medical practice, especially the growing epidemic of physician burnout.

Dying Is Unexpectedly Positive.

In people's imagination, dying seems dreadful; however, these perceptions may not reflect reality. In two studies, we compared the affective experience of people facing imminent death with that of people imagining imminent death. Study 1 revealed that blog posts of near-death patients with cancer and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis were more positive and less negative than the simulated blog posts of nonpatients-and also that the patients' blog posts became more positive as death neared. Study 2 revealed that the last words of death-row inmates were more positive and less negative than the simulated last words of noninmates-and also that these last words were less negative than poetry written by death-row inmates. Together, these results suggest that the experience of dying-even because of terminal illness or execution-may be more pleasant than one imagines.