Medicine, emotience, and reason.

Medicine is faced with a number of intractable modern challenges that can be understood in terms of hyper-intellectualization; a compassion crisis, burnout, dehumanization, and lost meaning. These challenges have roots in medical philosophy and indeed general Western philosophy by way of the historic exclusion of human emotion from human reason. The resolution of these medical challenges first requires a novel philosophic schema of human knowledge and reason that incorporates the balanced interaction of human intellect and human emotion. This schema of necessity requires a novel extension of dual-process theory into epistemology in terms of both intellect and emotion each generating a distinct natural kind of knowledge independent of the other as well as how these two forms of mental process together construct human reason. Such a novel philosophic schema is here proposed. This scheme is then applied to the practice of medicine with examples of practical applications with the goal of reformulating medical practice in a more knowledgable, balanced, and healthy way. This schema's expanded epistemology becomes the philosophic foundation for more fully incorporating the humanities in medicine.

Perceiving humanness across ages: neural correlates and behavioral patterns.

Humanness perception, which attributes fundamental and unique human characteristics to other objects or people, has significant consequences for people's interactions. Notably, the failure to perceive humanness in older adults can lead to prejudice. This study investigates the effect of a target's age on humanness perception in terms of two dimensions: agency (the ability to act and do) and experience (the ability to feel and sense). We also examined brain activity using a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner in order to understand the underlying neural mechanisms. Healthy university students viewed the facial images of older and younger individuals and judged the humanness of each individual in terms of agency and experience while inside the MRI scanner. The results indicated that older adults were rated higher on experience, and no difference was found in ratings for agency between younger and older face images. Analysis of brain imaging data indicated that positive functional connectivity between the ventral and dorsal regions of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) was greater when judging the humanness of younger faces than older faces. We also found that the negative functional connectivity between the left inferior frontal gyrus and postcentral gyrus was greater when judging the humanness of older faces as compared to that of younger faces. Although the current study did not show distinct brain activities related to humanness perception, it suggests the possibility that different brain connectivities are related to humanness perception regarding targets belonging to different age groups.

The relationship between organizational dehumanization and work engagement: the mediating effect of nurses' work stress.

BACKGROUND: Organizational dehumanization has detrimental consequences for nurses' wellbeing and leads to a stressful work environment. Moreover, it is very destructive to work engagement. AIM: To examine the mediating role of nurses' work stress between organizational dehumanization and work engagement. METHOD: A cross-sectional research design was conducted with 245 staff nurses over a one-month period. The researchers used structured equation modeling. RESULTS: Work engagement and organizational dehumanization levels were both moderate. In addition, the degree of job stress among the nurses was moderate, too. The results of the structural equation modeling showed that the association between organizational dehumanization and job engagement is partially mediated by work stress. CONCLUSIONS: For staff nurses to exhibit high levels of caring behaviors, this study emphasized the need to establish a work environment that employs tactics to improve workplace engagement and happiness. In addition to changing the organizational culture of nurses to eradicate organizational dehumanization and pressures related to the job.

Nonhuman treatment reduces helping others: self-dehumanization as a mechanism.

Objectification is a daily experience with various negative consequences. In four studies (N = 877), we tested whether and how objectification experience contributes to decreased prosociality. Using correlational designs (Studies 1 and 2), we found that participants' objectification experience negatively predicted their prosocial intention and that self-dehumanization could account for the negative association between objectification and prosocial intention. Next, by manipulating participants' objectification experience, we found the negative effect of objectification on prosocial intention, as well as the mediating role of self-dehumanization (Studies 3 and 4). Additionally, we tested the mediating role of self-dehumanization in comparison with relative deprivation (another potential mediator), and consistently found that self-dehumanization was a stronger mediator in accounting for the effect of objectification on prosocial intention (Studies 1, 2, and 4). Together, our findings support the process of self-dehumanization following objectification and offer new insights into the relationship between objectification and prosociality. The implications and limitations of the research were discussed.

Dehumanization in intensive care units and standard wards: A survey for a comparative cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVES: Dehumanization refers to the practice of treating patients as objects rather than individuals with dignity and respect. METHODS: This study explores dehumanization in healthcare, specifically mechanistic dehumanization and self-dehumanization, which can result in poor care and negative outcomes. A cross-sectional observational study was conducted using a dehumanization questionnaire given to 324 nurses in various departments. The study took place at ANONYMIZED, from September to November 2022. The questionnaire analyzed emotions like anger, impatience, and apathy, identified as key dehumanizing factors. RESULTS: Results indicated that these emotions were prevalent in nurses' perceptions of patients. Interestingly, while Intensive Care nurses often involved families in patient care, leading to higher satisfaction, ward department nurses sometimes viewed patient or family relationships as obstacles. Despite this, 66 % of nurses reported satisfaction with the care provided, while 12 % were indifferent. CONCLUSIONS: The study concludes that the root of dehumanization lies in nurses' inability to feel emotions, the impersonality of care, and the sterility of assistance, leading to self-dehumanization. To combat this, the study suggests strengthening nursing autonomy and education and fostering a positive work environment. The way nurses perceive themselves directly impacts their treatment of patients.

Dehumanization and the Association With Nonsuicidal Self-Injury and Suicidal Ideation in an Incarcerated Population.

Background: Self-injurious and suicidal thoughts create critical concerns for incarcerated populations, yet relatively little is known about how they are formed and perpetuated within US jails. Dehumanization has been presented as a potentially novel risk factor toward aspects of self-harm; thus, this study assessed the perception of dehumanization from officers by those currently incarcerated. Methods: Across two jail settings (n = 410), self-report surveys were administered asking questions relating to perception of officer dehumanization alongside aspects of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicidal ideation. Results: The findings indicate that perceived officer dehumanization is associated with NSSI thoughts, actively seeking NSSI, and suicidal ideation in jail, but not with NSSI in jail. Limitations: These data are cross-sectional, thus future work should examine the temporal order of these relationships. Conclusions: Perceptions of officer dehumanization appear to be clinically relevant in jail settings; therefore, future research should longitudinally determine how dehumanization imparts suicide risk.

The impact of core self-evaluations and person-job fit on work-related outcomes.

Introduction: The aim of this study is to explore the mediating effect of emotional exhaustion (EE) between core self-evaluations (CSE), person-job fit (PJ fit) and service recovery performance (SRP). The current research also examines whether organizational dehumanization (OD) moderates the relationship between two antecedents, EE and SRP. Methods: We collected time-lagged and multi-source data from star-rated hotels in three cities in China. In particular, direct supervisors of frontline employees (FLEs) rated their SRP (N = 32 supervisors and their 212 immediate employees). The hypotheses were gauged via PROCESS (version 3.4). Results: The results indicate that CSE and PJ fit alleviate FLEs' EE, which subsequently advances their SRP. OD moderates the direct impact of two antecedents on EE and SRP. Moreover, OD moderates the indirect influence of two antecedents on SRP through EE. Discussion: The hospitality literature currently lacks an in-depth understanding of the underlying mechanism through which CSE and PJ fit affect FLEs' SRP. This study incorporates EE as a mediator of the CSE's and PJ fit's impact on SRP, and to the authors' knowledge, this is the first attempt to evaluate whether OD moderates the direct influence of CSE and PJ fit on SRP and the indirect impact of CSE and PJ fit on the aforementioned outcome via EE.

How social media images of sexualized young women elicit appearance commentary from their peers and reinforce objectification.

Social media platforms like Instagram enable users to share, view, and provide feedback on images, including photographs of oneself (e.g., selfies). In a 3 × 2 between-subjects online experiment, we investigated how women evaluate and react to photographs of their peers on social media and the role that feedback might play in both objectification of others and oneself. U.S. adult young women (N = 256; Mage = 20.06, SDage = 1.57) viewed social media images of sexualized peers, non-sexualized peers, or landscapes (control). Then, they provided feedback on the images via social media hashtags (#) or not (tagging vs. no tagging). Results revealed that participants who viewed sexualized peers demonstrated the highest levels of state self-objectification and were more likely to dehumanize the women in the photos. Hashtags generated by participants indicated that those who viewed sexualized peers engaged in greater appearance-related objectification, specifically related to body parts, and sexual objectification than those who viewed non-sexualized peers. In addition, generating hashtags that specifically focused on body parts heightened viewers' state self-objectification. These findings illustrate the complexities of social media content production and consumption, particularly for young women.

"SO FAR AWAY" How Doctors Can Contribute to Making Endometriosis Hell on Earth. A Call for Humanistic Medicine and Empathetic Practice for Genuine Person-Centered Care. A Narrative Review.

"SO FAR AWAY" * How Doctors Can Contribute to Making Endometriosis Hell on Earth [* by Knopfler M. In Dire Straits. Brothers in Arms. Vertigo Records, U.K., 1985]. Abstract: The distance physicians may create within the relationship with their patients by not having a humanistic approach to their practice may strongly influence clinical outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to convey the well-known narrative of patient dissatisfaction into pro-action by discussing the aspects of dehumanization, which may occur in the relationship between physicians and women with endometriosis. Eight dimensions of dehumanization are examined and related to everyday scenarios occurring in endometriosis care settings and the possible downstream consequences on patients' clinical outcomes are described. Objectification, which may come across as minimization of pain, may not only increase patients' perception of pain but also lead to undertreatment of unrecognized forms of endometriosis, especially among adolescents. Passivity, that is not favoring shared decision-making nor self-management, may compromise adherence to treatment, reducing patients' trust in physicians and quality of life. The same consequences may result from homogenization, that is giving for granted that all patients have the same access to care. Both isolation, ie not practicing therapeutic empathy, and loss of meaning, ie not supporting patients in the re-definition of their life plans, may affect women's psychological wellbeing and further increase pain perception. Ignoring women's personal journey by not providing clear information on the consequences endometriosis may have on their lives may favor women's self-silencing. Not promoting an un-biased communication and not setting aside scientific polarization are the main features of dislocation, which may jeopardize patient empowerment. Lastly, having a reductionist approach to the body may contribute to chronicization of pain, thus compromising quality of life. This considered, taking time to listen to women with endometriosis and tailoring decisions on the basis of their individual needs should be fostered as a moral duty. Physicians should always keep in mind that they are not only deliverers of treatment; they are a form of treatment themselves.

Development and validation of a self-report measure of perceived dehumanization from officers.

PURPOSE: Emerging evidence indicates that incarcerated populations' perceptions of dehumanization by officers are prevalent, yet measures of it are few, and to our knowledge, no self-report measure of dehumanization from officers exists. To fill this gap, we have developed the Perceived Dehumanization from Officers Scale (PDOS), which is designed as a brief measure to assess perception of officer treatment as dehumanizing. METHODS: In this article, we provide preliminary evidence from two studies examining the reliability and validity of the PDOS. In study 1, a jail sample (n = 411), we analyzed the exploratory factor structure, internal consistency, and discriminant validity (in relation to procedural justice [PJ]) of the PDOS. Additionally, using a cross-sectional ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis, we related independent variables with the PDOS, the dependent variable. In Study 2, a prison sample (n = 2993), we confirmed the findings from study 1. RESULTS: The PDOS appears to be a psychometrically sound measure of perceived dehumanization from officers with strong association between perceptions of PJ and perceived dehumanization from officers. CONCLUSIONS: The PDOS provides opportunity for future research, intervention through rehumanization efforts, and signals the important officer treatment. Importantly We close by discussing implications of these studies, limitations, and future research directions to further develop and test the PDOS.

Dehumanization of stigmatized targets of ostracism.

The study explored people's reactions to observing the ostracism of stigmatized targets. Participants (n = 198) who observed ostracism experienced need threat regardless of the target's identity. Participants regarded included addicts more positively than ostracized addicts, especially on traits that are considered unique to humans. As for dehumanization, subtle measures demonstrate that ostracized targets are perceived as less human. In contrast, our original measure of blatant dehumanization suggests that targets of ostracism are perceived as more human. The study stresses the inconsistency between dehumanization measurements and the need to specify what each measure taps into and how each contributes to the theory.

Don't worry, they get the idea: instructions have no impact on dehumanization ratings on the Ascent of Human Scale.

A common method for assessing blatant dehumanization asks participants to rate "how evolved" they think members of various social groups are using the Ascent of Human scale (AOH) that transitions in stages from a crawling ape to a fully upright modern human. However, little is known about how task instructions affect participant ratings. In this pre-registered study, participants saw alternative forms of instruction including the traditional instructions emphasizing "evolution", a prompt without any reference to evolution, and a prompt that clearly explained that the scale assesses dehumanization. Instruction type had no effect on dehumanization ratings on the AOH scale. These results support the idea that the AOH scale is a robust means of assessing blatant dehumanization.

A Cross-Cultural Examination of Blatant and Subtle Dehumanization of Autistic People.

PURPOSE: This cross-cultural study examined various domains of dehumanization, including both blatant (viewing autistic people as animal-like, child-like, or machine-like) and subtle (denying agency and experience capabilities) dehumanization, of autistic individuals by Koreans and Americans. METHODS: A total of 404 Koreans and 229 Americans participated in an online survey, assessing blatant and subtle dehumanization, knowledge about autism, stigma toward and contact with autistic people, cultural factors, and demographic information. Robust linear mixed-effects regressions were conducted to examine the impact of the target group (autistic vs. non-autistic) and the country (South Korea vs. the US) on dehumanization. Additionally, correlations and multiple regressions were employed to identify individual variables associated with dehumanization. RESULTS: Both Koreans and Americans exhibited more dehumanizing attitudes towards autistic individuals than non-autistic individuals across all domains. Koreans showed greater dehumanization of autistic individuals than Americans in all domains except for the machine-like domain. Stigma toward autistic people was associated with all dehumanization domains among Koreans and with some of the domains among Americans. Individual variables associated with dehumanization varied across countries and domains. Positive contact quality frequently predicted lower dehumanization in both cultures. CONCLUSIONS: Non-autistic individuals consistently rated autistic people as less human than non-autistic people. Future research examining how autistic characteristics or societal perceptions that influence the consideration of an autistic person's humanness vary across cultures is needed. Implementing interventions aimed at enhancing non-autistic people's understanding of autistic individuals' agency and experience capabilities and promoting high-quality contact opportunities with autistic individuals may help reduce dehumanizing attitudes.

Examining the Role of Mononormative Beliefs, Stigma, and Internalized Consensual Non-Monogamy Negativity for Dehumanization.

Interest in consensually non-monogamous (CNM) relationships has been increasing in the general population in recent years. However, given the cultural dominance of monogamy and the normative expectations often imposed through socialization (i.e., mononormativity), people in CNM relationships may experience negativity, which can become internalized and harm their individual and relationship health. The present study investigated if mononormativity beliefs and CNM relationship stigma were associated with more dehumanization and if internalized CNM negativity was an underlying mechanism for these associations. Results showed that participants who endorsed more mononormative beliefs and CNM relationship stigma also reported more internalized CNM negativity. In turn, participants who experienced more internalized CNM negativity attributed more negative (vs. positive) emotions to themselves and treated their partners as more immature, unrefined, exploitable, and emotionless. These results show that mononormativity and internalized negativity can shape the attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors of CNM individuals toward themselves and their partners.

Metadehumanization, fundamental needs and coping strategies: A comparison of drinkers at low versus high risk of alcohol use disorder.

The interpersonal difficulties documented in chronic excessive drinking might foster the progression toward severe alcohol use disorder (SAUD). Characterizing these interpersonal difficulties and their commonalities with patients already presenting a diagnosed SAUD is needed to develop targeted prophylactic interventions. Patients with SAUD present metadehumanization (i.e., the perception of being considered as less than human by others), which is associated with deleterious consequences (e.g., reduced fundamental needs satisfaction, increased negative emotions, reduced self-esteem, disrupted coping strategies) involved in the persistence of this disorder. No study has investigated metadehumanization among individuals not diagnosed with SAUD but at high risk of alcohol use disorder. We measured metadehumanization, emotions, self-esteem, coping strategies, and fundamental needs threat among such high-risk drinkers (N = 86; AUDIT score higher than 15), and matched low-risk drinkers (N = 100, AUDIT score <8). Compared to low-risk drinkers, high-risk drinkers felt more dehumanized and reported increased fundamental needs threat, negative emotions, anxiety, depression, and more frequent use of both adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies, including alcohol use. Mediation analyses controlling for anxiety/depression revealed that the differences in emotions and coping strategies were explained by metadehumanization and fundamental needs threat. Despite not being diagnosed with SAUD and being untreated, high-risk drinkers are more similar to patients with SAUD than to low-risk drinkers. In view of its links with factors favoring SAUD, metadehumanization should be considered in experimental studies among high-risk drinkers and treated by specific interventions.

Objects Do Not Suffer: An Impact of Mechanistic Dehumanization on Perceptions of Women's Suffering and Lack of Justice in Domestic Assault.

Women constitute an overwhelming majority of those who experience domestic violence; furthermore, the vast majority of perpetrators of domestic violence go unsentenced. The objectification of women innately implies the denial of humanness, and dehumanization is known to play a role in willingness to engage in and acceptance of interpersonal harm. Yet, important questions remain. The current study examines the type of humanness objectified women are being denied, and how that denial implicates perceptions surrounding domestic assault. We predict that associating women with objects, and not animals, may be uniquely implicated in the lack of consequences for perpetrators-for objects cannot feel pain. In the current study (N = 319), we manipulated the presentation of a woman as sexualized or not and purported that she had been involved in a domestic violence incident. We found that when the target woman was sexualized (and thus objectified), participants associated her with an inert, non-human object (i.e., mechanistically dehumanized her) more than when she was not sexually objectified, but we found no effect of sexualization on animalistic dehumanization. Furthermore, mechanistic dehumanization mediated decreases in perceptions of the sexually objectified woman's suffering as a result of the domestic violence, which decreased the severity of the punishment participants recommended for the perpetrator, while also, increasing victim, and decreasing perpetrator, blame. We discuss critical considerations of the role of dehumanization in domestic violence directed toward women and the lack of consequences for perpetrators of these crimes.

A linguistic analysis of dehumanization toward substance use across three decades of news articles.

Introduction: Substances and the people who use them have been dehumanized for decades. As a result, lawmakers and healthcare providers have implemented policies that subjected millions to criminalization, incarceration, and inadequate resources to support health and wellbeing. While there have been recent shifts in public opinion on issues such as legalization, in the case of marijuana in the U.S., or addiction as a disease, dehumanization and stigma are still leading barriers for individuals seeking treatment. Integral to the narrative of "substance users" as thoughtless zombies or violent criminals is their portrayal in popular media, such as films and news. Methods: This study attempts to quantify the dehumanization of people who use substances (PWUS) across time using a large corpus of over 3 million news articles. We apply a computational linguistic framework for measuring dehumanization across three decades of New York Times articles. Results: We show that (1) levels of dehumanization remain high and (2) while marijuana has become less dehumanized over time, attitudes toward other substances such as heroin and cocaine remain stable. Discussion: This work highlights the importance of a holistic view of substance use that places all substances within the context of addiction as a disease, prioritizes the humanization of PWUS, and centers around harm reduction.

Beyond Dehumanized Gender Identity: Critical Reflection on Neuroscience, Power Relationship and Law.

The gender movement comprising feminist and queer group movements addressed various issues of prejudices in the legal domain. This article discusses the question of power in the context of neuroscience, gender, and law. It elaborates on how the stereotypical view corresponding to the mythology and parasitic view prevalent in history was made as fact through discourse construction and scientific appropriations. Thus, identifying the simplistic psychology of one's agency, societal framing of the methods of socialization, and institutionalizing the common sense of inferiority about one's identity including the process of internalization along with the biological inferiority has maintained the gap in gender equality. The article further elaborates how gender and self-image have taken a turn with the voices of social change and critical engagement with the reified gender categories.

Suicidal ideations and self-dehumanization in recently detoxified patients with severe alcohol use disorder: an experimental exploration through joint explicit-implicit measures.

BACKGROUND: Metadehumanization (the feeling of being considered as less than human by others) is a pervasive phenomenon in psychiatric states, notably promoting self-dehumanization and suicide antecedents. However, its role in suicidal ideations among patients with addictive disorders remains unexplored. We thus investigated the involvement of metadehumanization/self-dehumanization in suicidal ideations and suicidal thoughts interference in severe alcohol use disorder. METHODS: We measured metadehumanization, suicidal ideations, and desire for social contact through questionnaires among 35 recently detoxified patients with severe alcohol use disorder (26 males). We measured animalistic/mechanistic self-dehumanization using an Implicit Association Task, and suicidal thoughts interference using a Stroop Task with suicide-related words. We performed regression analyses while controlling for depression/anxiety. RESULTS: Animalistic self-dehumanization was positively associated with suicidal thoughts interference and with decreased desire for social interactions, such link being absent for metadehumanization or mechanistic self-dehumanization. CONCLUSIONS: This link between self-dehumanization and suicide-related factors suggests that a reduced sense of belonging to humanity is associated with self-harm antecedents. Results also emphasize the importance of using indirect measures to investigate sensitive variables, such as self-dehumanization and suicidal thoughts.

Not all ballots should be considered equal: How education-based dehumanization undermines the democratic social contract.

Less educated people are viewed negatively and their opinions are belittled in our society. Besides, along with other groups, they are underrepresented in the political arena which questions the legitimacy of democratic systems. Despite the existence of education-based devaluation, research on how people dehumanize individuals and groups with lesser education and minimize their democratic rights is scarce. In this project, we provide correlational evidence that less (vs. highly) educated individuals and groups are dehumanized (Study 1a, N = 304) and their democratic rights (voting, running for office) are questioned (Study 1b, N = 504). Furthermore, we identified that dehumanization tendencies of the less (vs. highly) educated targets predict support for denying them voting rights or the capability to run for public candidacies (Study 2, N = 447). Finally, an experimental study confirmed that the target's educational background influences attributions of humanity, which in turn seem to affect the denial of democratic rights to the target (Study 3, N = 470). These findings suggest that education-based dehumanization might undermine the inalienable democratic rights of lesser educated individuals and groups thus endangering the foundations of democratic systems.