Effects of age and interpersonal contact on stereotyping of the elderly

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the age of an individual, the type of contact an individual has with the elderly, the amount of knowledge an individual has about the elderly, and the extent that the individual stereotypes the elderly. In accordance with the Social Identity Theory and the Contact Hypothesis, stereotyping was predicted to be higher among individuals who did not identify with nor have contact with the elderly. Fifty young (18-25 years of age) and fifty elderly (64-79 years of age) participants completed surveys measuring their level of contact with the elderly, knowledge about aging (knowledge score), and tendency to stereotype the elderly (stereotype score). Results of this study indicated that regardless of age, participant knowledge of aging and application of aging stereotypes were affected by the quality of contact experienced. Although the young participants achieved significantly higher knowledge scores than the elderly participants, there was no significant age difference in stereotype scores for the young and elderly groups. However, as predicted, the young and elderly participants who experienced high levels of contact with the elderly achieved higher knowledge scores and lower stereotype scores. These scores were compared to the respective scores of the young and elderly participants experiencing low levels of contact with the elderly. Moreover, the elderly participants experiencing low levels of contact with the elderly achieved lower knowledge scores than any of the other groups. Elderly participants experiencing low levels of contact with other competent elderly individuals may be more susceptible to the negative effects of aging stereotypes and at risk for not identifying with their own social group.     

Interactions between stereotype threat,subjective aging,and memory in older adults

This study examined whether the effects of stereotype threat on memory and subjective age were moderated by positive age stereotypes and self-perceptions of aging among older adults. Perceived threat as a mechanism underlying these effects was also explored. Results showed that stereotype threat (high vs. low threat) did not affect the dependent variables. Moreover, self-perceptions of aging did not moderate the effect of stereotype threat on the dependent variables. However, for people with more positive age stereotypes, older people under highthreat perceived more threat than people under low threat. This could be explained by an effect of age stereotypes in the high-threat group: the more positive age stereotypes held by participants, the more they perceived threat, which in turn decreased their memory performance and made them feel mentally older. We hypothesized that age group identity is stronger in people with more positive age stereotypes, which increase perceived threat.     

On Working Memory Capacity and Implicit Associations between Advanced Age and Dangerous Driving Stereotypes

Despite a large literature on implicit stereotypes, no one has scientifically documented the stereotype that older adults are dangerous drivers, even though its existence may impact older adults' driving performance through stereotype threat. The present studies are the first to use implicit tests to document the stereotype that older adult drivers are dangerous drivers. Experiment 1 (N = 159) documented a negative stereotype of older adult drivers in young and older adults by using a novel driving and age Implicit Association Test (IAT). Experiment 2 (N = 216) demonstrated that individual differences in working memory capacity moderate the degree to which young adults can willfully change this IAT score such that higher working memory capacity was associated with greater control of this negative stereotype of age and driving. This finding illustrates the potential utility of working memory capacity in interventions designed to reduce the impact of implicit stereotypes and negative attitudes. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

消极刻板印象对老年人医疗决策的影响及归因偏差的作用

随着年龄的增长, 对老年人的消极刻板印象和医疗决策逐渐成为了与老年群体越来越相关的两个概念。在此背景下, 很有必要系统地探讨消极刻板印象对老年人医疗决策的效应及其机制。本研究以158名老年人为被试, 通过两个实验考察了消极刻板印象、归因偏差和老年人医疗决策质量间的关系。实验1结果发现, 消极刻板印象负向影响老年人的医疗决策质量, 同时, 归因偏差在刻板印象对老年人医疗决策质量的效应中起到中介作用。实验2结果表明, 减少归因偏差的干预控制可以有效降低刻板印象对医疗决策质量的消极效应。本研究对理解刻板印象效应机制、缓解刻板印象消极效应、以及改善老年人医疗决策质量具有一定的理论意义和实践价值。     

印象形成中交叉刻板印象的加工机制

以大学生作为被试,旨在探究：在交叉刻板印象加工过程中,是否存在某一单维刻板印象的加工优势效应？如果存在,靶子熟悉度的差异是否会影响单维刻板印象的加工优势效应？该单维刻板印象加工优势效应是否还会受到其他单维刻板印象加工的调节。研究结果表明：（1）在对具有性别-年龄组合而成的交叉刻板印象的人群进行判断时,通过面孔进行启动,发现在不同的条件下分别存在性别单维刻板印象和年龄单维刻板印象的加工优势效应,即年轻男性或女性面孔的性别特征较年龄特征更容易得到加工和提取,老年男性或女性面孔的年龄特征较性别特征更具有加工优势。而在范畴词汇启动下,老年男性或女性词汇启动下的年龄特征较性别特征更具有加工优势。（2）熟悉性会影响单维刻板印象的加工优势,即在年轻被试感知面孔或范畴词汇时,其对老年男性或女性靶子间击中率的差异要显著大于对年轻男性或女性的靶子间击中率的差异。换言之,年轻被试感知老年人靶子的性别与年龄间的差异要显著大于年轻人靶子,出现自我参照现象。（3）在交叉刻板印象加工中,同时存在的各类单维刻板印象加工是彼此削弱的,具有优势加工效应的刻板印象的加工会受到非优势刻板印象加工的抑制。（4）在交叉刻板印象加工中,优势刻板印象加工会受到其相对刻板印象加工的削弱。     

老化刻板印象研究现状及展望

老化刻板印象是人们对老年人所持有的观念与预期,它能显著影响老化刻板印象持有者的生理功能、认知功能和行为结果。现有研究主要集中在老化刻板印象的机制、影响因素和中介变量方面。研究发现,老化刻板印象是通过内化形成的,刻板印象威胁理论和自我刻板化是解释老化刻板印象的两种作用机制。认知加工过程中的抑制能力、情境和文化差异是影响老化刻板印象的主要因素,而老化自我知觉和刻板期望则是老化刻板印象影响效果变量的中介因素。未来研究除了要继续探讨意识水平、情境因素、个体特征对老化刻板印象的影响以及老化刻板印象对不同年龄群体影响的特点以外,还应关注中介和干预研究,并进一步加强跨文化研究。     

Priming of disability and elderly stereotype in motor performance: similar or specific effects?

In three experimental studies, the effects of priming participants with the disability stereotype were investigated with respect to their subsequent motor performance. Also explored were effects of activating two similar stereotypes, persons with a disability and elderly people. In Study 1, participants were primed with the disability stereotype versus with a neutral prime, and then asked to perform on a motor coordination task. In Studies 2 and 3, a third condition was introduced: priming participants with the elderly stereotype. Results indicated that priming participants with the disability stereotype altered their motor performance: they showed decreased manual dexterity and performed slower than the non-primed participants. Priming with the elderly stereotype decreased only performance speed. These findings underline that prime-to-behavior effects may depend on activation of specific stereotype content.     

Having a “senior moment”: Induced aging phenomenology, subjective age, and susceptibility to ageist stereotypes

The current research develops methods to experimentally manipulate subjective age in midlife and older adulthood to test whether subjective age moderates the effects of ageist stereotypes on a person’s well-being and expression of age-stereotypic social attitudes. Study 1 manipulates experiences of visual disfluency to test whether participants feel older when they experience unexplained visual disfluency. Study 2 crosses this fluency manipulation with a manipulation of the valence of primed aging stereotypes to test whether participants feel worse about themselves when they are primed with negative aging stereotypes and given an experience of unexplained visual disfluency. Study 3 tests whether participants express more age-stereotypic social attitudes when they are made to feel older through an experience of generation gaps and they are presented with evidence confirming the stereotype linking older age with psychological rigidity. These findings illuminate the phenomenological sources of variation in subjective age and suggest that subjective age influences adults’ susceptibility to ageist stereotypes.     

When do Gender Stereotypes Impair Math Performance? A Study of Stereotype Threat Among Ugandan Adolescents

The present study examined the effect of gender-based stereotype threat (ST) on the mathematics performance of high school students in Uganda, East Africa, as moderated by students’ stereotype endorsement and/or their perceptions of stereotypic expectancies by others. Participants were 190 ninth grade students (age 14–15, senior 2, in Uganda) from all-female and coed boarding schools. Only perceived stereotypic expectancies by others significantly moderated ST effects on performance. A reminder of cross-gender comparisons led both young women and young men to underperform if they assumed that the researchers expected their own gender to do worse than the other gender. Importantly, students’ perceptions of the stereotypic expectancies of authority figures (i.e. researchers) mattered more for predicting their math performance than did students’ own endorsement of stereotypes. Collectively, these findings support a basic assumption of ST theory– that knowledge of a cultural stereotype is a prerequisite to the ST experience. Therefore, studies conducted with younger samples and in diverse cultural contexts should establish participants’ awareness of the stereotype in question. Also, regarding gender and math stereotypes, it should not be assumed that males will always be immune from stereotype-based performance deficits on quantitative tasks when tested in different cultures. Finally, results suggest that conveying an expectation that young men and young women have equal ability and potential might be important to preventing ST among younger age groups.     

Stereotype validation and intellectual performance: Negative implications for future achievement

Previous research has found that activating negative stereotypes after completion of a task can lead people to feel more certain that they performed poorly (i.e., stereotype validation). The current research examined the implications that stereotype validation may hold for future performance. In two studies, the accessibility of gender stereotypes was manipulated after participants completed an initial test on a topic. After reporting perceptions of their performance, participants completed a follow-up test on the same subject. Consistent with hypotheses, activating negative stereotypes after the initial test was found to increase certainty in negative performance evaluations among stigmatized participants. Importantly, this higher certainty – triggered by stereotypes – predicted decreased performance on the later, follow-up test.     

Stereotypes on Campus: How Contact and Liking Influence Perceptions of Group Distinctiveness

In two studies, subjects' stereotypes of various campus groups were assessed using a content-free, cognitive methodology in which stereotypes are defined as "generalizations about a class of people that distinguish that class from others" (McCauley, Stitt, & Segal, 1980, p. 197). In an effort to predict strength of stereotypes, four main findings emerged: (a) contact with a group's members was associated with increased liking of the group; (b) contact predicted increased stereotype strength; (c) liking a group was associated with decreased stereotype strength; and (d) over time, the strength of stereotypes tended to decrease. These data are discussed in regard to the contact hypothesis (Airport, 1954; Amir, 1969; Cook, 1978,1984), the role of positive affect in altering cognitive organization, and more generally, to the issue of stereotype development.     

Subtyping and social consensus: the role of the audience in the maintenance of stereotypic beliefs

Two studies investigated the effect of stereotypes held by a prospective audience on participants' reactions to a stereotype‐disconfirming member. In Study 1, participants formed an impression of a positive disconfirming gay in order to communicate it to an audience known to hold a negative versus positive stereotype about gays. As predicted, participants subtyped the deviant more in the former than in the latter case. Moreover, participants' stereotype at the end of the study mirrored the audience's assumed stereotypes about gays. In Study 2, participants learned about a stereotype allegedly held by an ingroup or an outgroup audience about Belgians and then received information about a Belgian who disconfirmed the stereotype. As predicted, the deviant was seen as less typical when he violated the stereotype held by an ingroup than by an outgroup audience. Also, participants' stereotype about Belgians was more similar to the one held by the ingroup audience. A mediational analysis confirmed that participants subtyped the disconfirming member in order to embrace the stereotype advocated by the ingroup audience. Results are discussed in light of recent models of stereotype change. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

社会层级的内隐刻板印象：权力与地位的不同作用

采用探测词再认范式,考察社会层级的内隐刻板印象。结果发现,在能力推理上,无论地位高低,个体对高权力推理为积极的反应时显著长于消极,对低权力推理为消极的反应时显著长于积极;在热情推理上,无论权力高低,个体对高地位推理为积极的反应时显著长于消极,对低地位推理为消极的反应时显著长于积极。这表明,权力和地位在热情和能力维度的刻板印象中起着不同的作用,其中权力正向预测能力,地位正向预测热情。     

Beliefs About the Disconfirmability of Stereotypes: The Stereotype Disconfirmability Effect1

Two studies examined people's beliefs about the relative disconfirmability of out‐group and in‐group stereotypes. In Study 1 (n= 56), Hispanics and White non‐Hispanics judged the in‐group and out‐group stereotypes in terms of the ease with which they could be dis‐confirmed. The results indicated that strongly, ethnically identified participants believed the out‐group stereotype to be more difficult to disconfirm than the in‐group stereotype. The second study with 73 White participants examined their beliefs about the disconfirmability of the White and African American stereotypes. The results indicated that participants higher in prejudice believed the African American stereotype is more difficult to disconfirm than the White stereotype to a greater degree than participants lower in prejudice. The results suggest that disconfirmability beliefs comprise a distinct construct thai may contribute to the difficulty of changing out‐group stereotypes.     

French Children’s Awareness of Gender Stereotypes About Mathematics and Reading: When Girls Improve Their Reputation in Math

Since 2000, surveys on academic achievement show gender inequalities in favor of girls in the school setting. The aim of the present study was to examine if gender stereotypes about academic abilities that are usually considered as fully demonstrated in the literature have to be updated. Three hundred ninety-eight French fifth graders from a medium-sized provincial town answered a questionnaire designed to examine, both with direct and indirect measures, if they hold different gender stereotypes concerning mathematics and reading depending on target’s age (children vs. adults). As expected, results showed that participants, regardless of their gender, were aware of a math-ability stereotype favorable to men when the stereotyped targets were adults. When the stereotyped targets were children and young adolescents, the math-ability stereotype was less clear. Participants believed that people think that girls succeed as well as boys in math. Concerning reading-ability, participants reported the “usual” stereotype favorable to females, regardless of the stereotyped target’s age (child or adult). Together these results suggest that academic gender stereotypes have to be reconsidered. The math-ability stereotype targeting children and favorable to both genders seems to show an improvement of the French girls’ reputation in mathematics. Moreover, the reputation of French boys in this domain seems to be poorer than reported in previous research.     

Adaptive memory: Stereotype activation is not enough

Studies have shown that survival processing leads to superior memorability. The aim of the present study was to examine whether this survival recall advantage might result from stereotype activation. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a pilot study and two experiments in which participants were primed with stereotypes (Experiment 1, professor and elderly person; Experiment 2, survival-stereotype). In Experiment 1, 120 undergraduates were randomly assigned to a survival, professor stereotype, elderly person stereotype, or moving scenario and rated words for their relevance to the imagined scenario. In Experiment 2, 75 undergraduates were given a survival, survival-stereotype (based on our pilot study), or moving scenario. Both experiments showed that survival processing leads to a greater recall advantage over the stereotype groups and control group. These data indicate that the mere activation of stereotypes cannot explain the survival recall advantage.     

Changing Attitudes Toward Older Adults Through a Simulated Aging Exercise: Implications for Family Therapy

Past research suggests that many young people hold negative attitudes toward the elderly. Simulated aging is one method to reduce aging that had been successfully applied with those individuals working in the helping professions. However, it has not yet been applied to ordinary young adults. The current study examined whether a simulated aging activity would cause more positive attitudes toward the aged, an increased desire to help, and higher satisfaction with life. Seventy-eight college students participated; half were randomly assigned to complete three tasks with sensory deficits designed to simulate aging (i.e., wearing non-magnified glasses covered with petroleum jelly, wearing foam earplugs, and wearing cloth gloves), and half served as the control. Three questionnaires were completed that measured attitudes toward older adults, prosocial desires, and satisfaction with life. Results showed that young adults who experienced simulated aging had more favorable attitudes toward older adults than did individuals in the control condition. These results suggest that simulated aging activities may be an effective method to reduce ageism. This has potential implications for multigenerational family therapy, such as to assist younger people to understand what their grandparents may be experiencing.