Discussions of withdrawal of life support often revolve around a patient’s perceived level of suffering or lack of experience. Personhood, however, is often linked to personal agency. In the present study, 279 laypeople estimated the amount of agency and experience in hypothetical patients differing in degree of consciousness. Participants also indicated whether they would choose to maintain or terminate life support. Patients were more likely to terminate life support for a patient in a persistent vegetative state, followed by one with (...) amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and in a minimally conscious state. The decision to maintain life support was reliably predicted by perceptions of a patient’s agency but life support decisions were not significantly predicted by ratings of experience. In sum, decisions regarding maintaining life support are more influenced by perceptions of a patient’s ability to plan and act than by perceptions of a patient’s ability to feel or experience. (shrink)

Women are diagnosed with clinical depression at twice the rates as men. Treating depression through psychotherapy or medication both focus on changing an individual, rather than addressing socioecological influences or social roles. In the current study, participants read of systemic inequality contributing to differential rates of depression in either American men or women, or in two fictitious Australian First Nation groups. Participants then considered the acceptability and efficacy of treating depression through psychotherapy, medication, or social change. When socioecological inequities and (...) unequal social roles were presented through an unfamiliar foreign lens, participants were more likely to recognize the systemic unfairness, and endorsed social change more than psychotherapy or medication as a treatment strategy. However, when identical social inequities and social roles were presented through descriptions of American men and women, social intervention was less likely to be endorsed, and psychotherapy or medication gained in acceptability. Participants of color were also more likely to recognize and endorse social change as a strategy for treating depression, while those reporting a history of psychotropic medication for affective disorders rated medication as more effective and acceptable. (shrink)