Less than human: dehumanisation of people who use heroin

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 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.

Salience Matters: Filler groups on the ascent of human scale impact ratings for target groups

Researchers using the ascent of human scale (AOH) to study dehumanization typically include filler groups in addition to the main comparator groups, to hide the true intent of the study. However, there is little work examining the impact of filler group choice on dehumanization ratings between groups of interest. Across two studies (including one pre-registered study) we manipulated the salience of a target out-group (i.e., the extent to which the group stood out) by embedding it within lists of other groups. By comparing AOH ratings across three conditions in which the target out-group was either high salience, medium salience, or low salience, we were able to determine the effects of target out-group salience on dehumanization. In study 1, we included participants' in-group (Canadian) in the list, and in study 2, we did not include participants in-group in the list. Results from study 1 showed that group salience had no impact on AOH ratings for the out-group when the participant in-group was included in the list. However, in study 2, when participant in-group was removed from the list, ratings for the out-group in the high salience condition were significantly lower than both the medium and low salience conditions. Implications for both theoretical and methodological issues in investigations using the AOH scale are discussed.

Little Evidence for the Role of Disgust Sensitivity in Implicit Disgust to Images of White People Engaged in Injecting Drug Use (IDU)

Background: Previous research has shown that People Who Inject Drugs (PWID) are subject to public stigma, which affects access to, and provision and quality of, treatment and support services. Less is known about the socio-cognitive processes that support the development and maintenance of public stigma toward PWID. The present study investigated the role of disgust sensitivity in implicit disgust to injecting drug use. Methods: 126 participants took part in an online Implicit Association Task (IAT) measuring implicit disgust to pictorial stimuli of injecting drug use or medical injecting. Participants also completed The Disgust Scale Revised, Injecting Phobia Scale (Short Form), Attitudes to People Who Use Drugs (PWUD) scale and a substance use inventory. Results: Average IAT score was negative indicating significantly higher implicit disgust to injecting drug use. Hierarchical linear regression found that injecting phobia predicted implicit disgust to injecting drug use. Questionnaire measures of disgust did not predict implicit disgust. While animal reminder disgust and injecting phobia were significantly correlated with each other, animal reminder disgust did not predict implicit disgust scores. Conclusions: On the basis of our findings, stigma toward PWID may not be a result of feelings of disgust toward injecting drug use. We discuss findings in the context of the underlying cortical processes supporting implicit and explicit representations of disgust. Future research should seek to investigate neurophysiological evidence for disgust to and stigmatization of injecting drug use and the potential role of domains of disgust in this.

How to save a life: Public awareness of a national mass media take home naloxone campaign, and effects of exposure to campaign components on overdose knowledge and responses

BACKGROUND

Take home naloxone (THN) programmes are effective at reducing opioid related mortality, but require high levels of distribution, including to the general public. Mass media campaigns can be effective in improving public understanding of a topic and encouraging behavior change. Whilst mass media campaigns focusing on naloxone have been developed internationally, there is a lack of research on their potential impact. We investigated the effects of components of a recent national mass media campaign (Scotland, UK) designed to improve public awareness of drug related deaths, and readiness to intervene.

METHODS

We undertook a cross-sectional online experimental study with a randomized design, conducted with a nationally representative sample. Participants (N = 1551; 52.6% female; age 46.1±16.5 years) were assessed on overdose knowledge and readiness to intervene after presentation of eight combinations of campaign components.

RESULTS

Compared to a basic campaign description, exposure to all types of campaign component were associated with higher overdose knowledge (p < .001), but not knowledge of what to do in response to an overdose (p = .374), or readiness to intervene (p= .286). The greatest effects were associated with a media rich audio-visual resource (animated video with a popular song on the soundtrack, and narrated by a well-known actor).

CONCLUSION

Our data suggest that harm reduction is an appropriate topic for large-scale mass media campaigns. However, effects may be limited to knowledge and awareness raising in the general public, and may be related to the types of media used. Audience segmentation is important and more general messaging about drug related deaths may be more appropriate for the majority of audiences.

Role of the media in promoting the dehumanization of people who use drugs

Dehumanization, the perception or treatment of people as subhuman, has been recognized as "endemic" in medicine and contributes to the stigmatization of people who use illegal drugs, in particular. As a result of dehumanization, people who use drugs are subject to systematically biased policies, long-lasting stigma, and suboptimal healthcare. One major contributor to the public opinion of drugs and people who use them is the media, whose coverage of these topics consistently uses negative imagery and language. This narrative review of the literature and American media on the dehumanization of illegal drugs and the people who use them provides a perspective on the components of dehumanization in each case and explores the consequences of dehumanization on health, law, and society. Drawing from language and images from American news outlets, anti-drug campaigns, and academic research, we recommend a shift away from the disingenuous trope of people who use drugs as poor, uneducated, and most likely of color. To this end, positive media portrayals and the humanization of people who use drugs can help form a common identity, engender empathy, and ultimately improve health outcomes.

Effects of media representations of drug related deaths on public stigma and support for harm reduction

BACKGROUND

Drug related deaths (DRD) are at historically high levels in the United Kingdom (UK), but some approaches that have the potential to reduce risk of mortality remain controversial. Public support makes an important contribution to drug policy development but there are high levels of public stigma towards people who use drugs (PWUD), and this is partly shaped by media representations. We investigated whether depiction of the characteristics of decedents represented in news articles about DRD was associated with differences in stigmatising attitudes and support for harm reduction policy.

METHODS

We undertook a cross-sectional online study with a randomised design, conducted with a nationally representative sample (UK). Participants (N = 1280) were randomly presented with one of eight simulated news stories that reported on a DRD that differed with respect to drug (ecstasy or heroin), and the gender (male or female) and age (younger or older) of the decedent. Data were analysed using MANOVA.

RESULTS

Data were obtained for 1248 participants (51.0% female; mean age 45.7±15.4). Stigma was higher towards depictions of male, older, and heroin deaths (all p < .001). Harm reduction support was higher in those participants seeing older compared to younger subjects (p = .035), and the older ecstasy decedent compared to younger decedent (p = .029).

CONCLUSION

Presentation of some types of DRD are associated with higher public stigma towards the decedent than others. Those groups developing agenda-setting activities designed to reduce stigma or foster public support for harm reduction policies should consider the different ways in which audiences may respond to the depiction and framing of DRD in news media.