It is worth noting that not all addicts look like meth heads and not all meth heads look like meth heads (although meth heads do seem destined for that look eventually).
Alcoholics are drug addicts but they don’t (usually) have a look. Neither do coke addicts. Or pot heads (I know a few pot heads and you’d never guess it).
If they have published mugshots I assume they’re in trouble with the law. If they look like a meth addict, ummm…they probably are.
I’ve been around drinkers my whole life I can tell a true alcoholic from a casual drinker in 5 seconds. It’s not mysterious. They look it, they smell it and they act it.
You should really, really go read up on conformation bias.
I know what it means.
I’m not sure that you do.
There is a thing called meth mouth, and having very bad teeth will make a face less appealing to look at.
We’re talking about mug shots, from the OP.
Go look at your county lock up. They publish mugshots. Tell me you wouldn’t see a face there, marked up with sores, bad teeth, dirty and not have it ping something in your brain that says crack head, meth head, drug addict.
If it’s confirmation bias, because we believe something, right or wrong about a person that proves to me my negative belief is probably true. I’m sorry. I don’t like it I have these negative feelings about an addict whose probably stealing, hurting his family and himself. Causing LE to intervene because he’s driving under the influence or, god forbid wrecking into a family of 4, but I do have these worries.
And if you don’t worry about it and the cost to society it’s foolish.
We ALL should worry about what meth is doing to communities.
This does not reduce my ability to have sympathy for their plight.
Nobody is accusing you of the things you are defending yourself against, which is why we don’t think you understand what confirmation bias is.
Some people who do drugs have messed up appearances.
Not everyone who does drugs has a messed up appearance.
Right? Some people who do drugs, you can’t tell by looking at them at all.
Sometimes people, like perhaps the OP, think, “Wow, every drug addict I’ve seen has a messed up face, therefore drugs mess up your face every time.” Their brain is naturally ignoring all the drug addicts they’ve met without messed-up faces, assuming they even knew what they were seeing. And every time they see a drug addict with a messed up face, their brain goes, “Aha! I told you people who do drugs always have a messed up face.”
That is an incredibly common cognitive error, a glitch in human reasoning.
That is confirmation bias.
Right. Confirmation bias is NOT
I see a messed up face and assume drugs. I admit I’m being judgmental but we all do it.
It’s
I am convinced that everyone who does drugs must have a messed up face. Because I don’t see druggies without messed up faces. I only see them with messed up faces.
without recognizing that if you did see a druggy without a messed up face you’d assume they weren’t a druggy at all. All the examples you notice only go one way and any examples out there the other way go unnoticed.
Ohhh. I get it.
Another form of conformation bias is, I don’t look like a drug addict and hold a steady job, thus I am not a drug addict and neither are my friends. It’s those scary people that can’t control themselves. People tell that lie to themselves for years.
My sister told her self she wasn’t an alcoholic for years. High functioning. Well placed. Important job. Looked nice
She was tho’.
Now she don’t care. She’s retired drinking her Pearl beer.
I would say that people with drug addictions are more likely to be unhoused, more likely to be in abusive relationships and more prone to assaults, accidents and injury than people without drug addictions, and that all those things can take a toll on one’s face and physical appearance.
Please note that nothing is black and white, I’m not saying that all drug addicts are unhoused, abused and beat-up and I’m not saying that people without drug addictions are immune to such things. But drug addiction often happens in tandem with other situations that can affect one’s appearance.
I once had a discussion with a policewoman, a real NYC SVU detective, even, about a friend and neighbor that was in an abusive relationship with a crack addict, she had begun using crack with him.
The detective was trying to coach me about how to talk to my friend, and she kept telling me to make it about her face. And this young female detective was speaking from her professional experience, she spoke at length about how the drugs and abuse destroyed the attractiveness of so many young women, and I could tell she was deeply affected by it.
Well done. I began to think it would never happen.
And when you’re to the point that you’re scratching your teeth because they itch so mightily well…
It doesn’t really matter but because I first scanned that one way, then re-read it and had a different impression, I’m curious. Do you mean:
“She’s retired from drinking her Pearl beer.”
Or,
“She’s retired and drinking her Pearl beer.”?
I spotted this reddit thread discussing dental hygiene in particular.
Eli5: why do hard drugs make people lose their teeth? : explainlikeimfive
(ELI5 means explain like I’m 5 years old)
She’s retired from her Job. Age appropriately. But she’s still drinkin’ that beer.
Her big mis-step has been husbands. She’s been married 4 times. None ended well. Has had a male friend for a year or so. He seems a sticker. But they don’t live together. That’s when the problems would start, I think.
(Missed a comma in my previous post, sorry)
Nice!