The role of individual difference variables in ageism

The aim of this study was to examine the role that personality traits, empathy traits, and gratitude have on ageist attitudes and aging anxiety. Consistent with previous research, participants who exhibited greater aging anxiety were more prone to ageist attitudes. Participants with greater dispositional gratitude exhibited significantly less aging anxiety and less ageist attitudes. All of the Big Five personality traits, with the exception of extraversion, were found to be significant determinants of ageist attitudes, aging anxiety, or both. With the exception of personal distress, none of the empathy dimensions predicted either aging anxiety or ageist attitudes.     

Fighting ageism through nostalgia

Two experiments tested whether nostalgia is a resource for fighting ageism. In Experiment 1, younger adults who recalled a nostalgic (vs. ordinary) encounter with an older adult showed a more positive attitude towards older adults, mediated by greater inclusion of older adults in the self (IOGS). In Experiment 2, these findings were replicated and extended with a subtle nostalgia manipulation. Younger adults identified an older, familiar adult, before writing about an encounter with this person that was characterized by either central (e.g., keepsakes and childhood) or peripheral (e.g., wishing and daydreaming) features of the construct of nostalgia (i.e., prototype). Participants who recalled a central (vs. peripheral) nostalgic encounter reported greater social connectedness, which predicted increased IOGS. In turn, increased IOGS was associated with a lower desire to avoid older adults. Several alternative explanations for the intergroup benefits of nostalgia were ruled out. The research established that nostalgia qualifies as a resource for combatting ageism.     

The interaction between aging and death anxieties predicts ageism

While aging anxiety is associated with the threat of deterioration that leads to death, death anxiety is related to the threat of non-existence and to fears from an unknown afterlife, and both anxieties can lead to ageism. The current study examined the unexplored relationship between these two existential anxieties and ageism. Measures of aging and death anxieties, ageism (in the form of ageist attitudes), and various measures of physical health were collected from 1073 older adults at the age range of 50–86. When death anxiety was low, aging anxiety was positively related to ageism, but when aging anxiety was low, death anxiety was positively related to ageism. The interaction between both anxieties and ageism remained significant after controlling for a myriad of background characteristics and physical health measures. These findings, which point at the distinctive and complementary roles that both anxieties have in connecting between one another and ageist attitudes, are discussed in light of theories on ageism.     

Asymmetries in the production of self-directed behavior by chimpanzees and gorillas during a computerized cognitive test

Self-directed behaviors (SDBs) are a commonly used behavioral indicator of arousal in nonhuman primates. Experimental manipulations, designed to increase arousal and uncertainty, have been used to elicit SDB production in primates. Beyond measuring rates of SDB production, researchers have also recorded their lateralized production by primates, thought to reflect laterality of hemispheric brain control and response to emotion. Although a handful of such studies exist, all have been conducted with chimpanzees. Expanding on this line of inquiry, we tested both chimpanzees (N = 3) and gorillas (N = 3) in a serial learning task presented on a touchscreen interface that incorporated both EASY (two-item list) and HARD (four-item list) versions of the task. Although SDB production by the apes did not differ across the two levels of task complexity, both species produced higher rates of SDB when they made an error, regardless of task difficulty. Furthermore, the apes made more SDB with the left hand—directed to the right side of their body (contralateral SDB) and left side of their body (ipsilateral SDB)—when they made an incorrect response. There was no difference in the rate of SDB produced with the right hand across correct compared to incorrect trials. The apes’ responses reflect previous reports that show humans are quicker at selecting negative emotional stimuli when using their left, compared to their right, hand (the reverse is true for positive stimuli). However, previous work has shown that chimpanzees are more likely to produce (contralateral) SDB with their right hand when aroused and so we discuss our results in relation to these findings and consider how they relate to the ‘right hemisphere’ and ‘valence’ models of emotional processing in apes.     

The multidimensional nature of ageism: construct validity and group differences

The authors investigated the factor structure and construct validity of the Fraboni Scale of Ageism and the age and gender differences in ageism scores. Confirmatory factor analyses supported the multidimensional nature of FSA scores and generally corroborated the initial factor structure reported by M. Fraboni, with some notable exceptions. Essentially, the present findings were aligned with theoretical models of ageism that emphasize both cognitive facets and affective facets. That is, on the basis of their factor analytic findings, the authors redefined Fraboni's original factors of Antilocution, Avoidance, and Discrimination as Stereotypes, Separation, and Affective Attitudes, respectively, because of the clustering of items within factors. The revised 3-factor structure accounted for 36.4% of the variance in FSA scores. FSA factor scores significantly related to other scores from other measures of age-related attitudes, with higher correlations among factors that were similar in terms of their cognitive nature versus their affective nature. Finally, younger individuals and men had significantly higher ageism scores on the FSA than older individuals and women. The authors discussed the importance of adequately assessing ageism, with particular emphasis devoted to the understanding of age bias.     

The perceived credibility of older adults as witnesses and its relation to ageism

In experiment 1, 267 undergraduates read a case summary and witness statement. Sex and age of the witness (49, 69, 79 or 89 years) were varied. Participants rated the witness's perceived convincingness, confidence, quality of observation, accuracy, honesty, competence, memory, suggestibility, and cognitive functioning. As well as an age effect for honesty, age by sex interactions were observed for several characteristics, particularly for comparisons of the 79-year-olds versus the 49-year-olds, and 89-year-olds versus the 49-year-olds. In experiment 2, 94 undergraduates read the same testimony given by a 79-year-old male or female witness, and completed the Fraboni Scale of Ageism and the Aging Semantic Differential. Participants who evidenced stronger aging stereotypes on these measures rated the witness less favorably than did participants who were less prejudiced. This experiment is the first to show a link between perceived credibility of older adults and ageist attitudes. Practical applications regarding how older witnesses are viewed by jurors, and the criminal justice system more generally, are discussed.     

Loneliness,ageism, and mental health: The buffering role of resilience in seniors

IntroductionAgeism and loneliness are two relevant public health phenomena because of their negative impact on the senior's mental health. With the increase in average life expectancy, these tend to co-occur, which may increase the psychological distress (PD) of seniors. Resilience has been shown to be an important protective factor of seniors mental health, although its potential buffering role of public health risk factors with cumulative impact on mental health, such as loneliness and ageism, needs to be more studied.AimTo assess the potential mediator role of resilience between the effects of ageism and loneliness on PD in seniors.MethodsA sample of 349 Portuguese seniors aged 60 years and over was collected through an online survey and during the COVID-19 pandemic period. Seniors completed the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K6), the Short-Form of UCLA Loneliness Scale (USL-6), the Ambivalent Ageism Scale (AAS) and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10). A mediation analysis model was developed with resilience as a mediating variable.ResultsThere were moderate to high levels of PD and moderate levels of ageism, loneliness and resilience. Resilience fully mediated the effect of ageism on PD and partially mediated the effect of loneliness on PD.ConclusionsResilience was an important protective factor of mental health against the effects of ageism, and partially protected mental health from the effects of loneliness among seniors. It is suggested that resilience be considered as a factor to be integrated in future intervention programs for mental health. The practical applicability of this study is discussed.     

When prejudice against you hurts others and me: The case of ageism at work

Ageism in the workplace has documented detrimental consequences for its victims, but its effects on those who hold ageist views are rarely investigated. A cross‐sectional study and a longitudinal study examined ageism toward both younger and older workers and its relation to intergroup contact, work behaviors, organizational identification, and the well‐being of prejudiced individuals. It was hypothesized that ageism would predict prejudiced individuals’ behaviors toward co‐workers, identification with their organization, and vitality at work, indirectly through intergroup anxiety and quality of intergroup contact. Overall, 647 employees aged 24–62 years provided data on the variables of interest. Both studies suggested that ageist views worsened the quality of intergroup contact, which in turn increased counterproductive behaviors toward co‐workers and decreased identification with the organization. Moreover, ageism marginally predicted vitality at work longitudinally through the mediation of quality of intergroup contact. No support emerged for the mediational role of intergroup anxiety. Theoretical explanations for these findings and their practical implications are discussed.     

Benevolent ageism: Attitudes of overaccommodative behavior toward older women

ABSTRACT

Stereotypes of older adults fit a paternalistic pattern, including elevated warmth and lowered competence, yet little effort has been made to elucidate this in an everyday context. This phenomenon was examined with an experimental vignette, in which a woman was offered unnecessary help; specifically, the age (young vs. old) and the independence (accepting vs. declining assistance) of the woman were manipulated. Attributions from a college-age sample toward the woman were examined. In the older conditions, hypotheses were confirmed that participants approved overaccommodative behaviors, endorsed higher warmth and lower competence, and attitudes were modified when the older women contradicted the paternalistic stereotype by declining assistance. That is, competence was modifiable for older women, whereas warmth was not. Implications of these findings as possible evidence of benevolent ageism and the malleability of the Stereotype Content Model are discussed.     

Promoting self-directed hemodialysis: measurement and cognitive-behavioral intervention

Approximately 98% of hemodialysis patients who are treated in hemodialysis units currently use staff-directed treatment. This may well be the most expensive and most dependent mode of hemodialysis treatment. If an effective strategy were developed to enhance degree of self-directed care, millions of public health dollars might be saved while patients reap potentially substantial psychological benefits. The present research took two steps in the direction of promoting increased self-directed treatment of hemodialysis. First, a reliable and easily used behavioral observation system was developed to define and measure degree of self-directed treatment of hemodialysis. Second, a five-step cognitive-behavioral strategy to improve degree of self-directed treatment was developed and tested preliminarily. The strategy includes an initial rationale, decisional counseling, behavioral contracting, self-monitoring, and staff support/problem solving. Four nurses used this approach with 4 elderly patients (mean age = 70.5 years). A multiple-baseline-across-subjects design revealed substantial and relatively rapid improvements in degree of self-directedness associated with the intervention for the 3 patients who remained healthy throughout the study. The discussion focuses on the implications of the results for future research.     

Deconstructing the effect of self-directed study on episodic memory

Self-directed learning is often associated with better long-term memory retention; however, the mechanisms that underlie this advantage remain poorly understood. This series of experiments was designed to “deconstruct” the notion of self-directed learning, in order to better identify the factors most responsible for these improvements to memory. In particular, we isolated the memory advantage that comes from controlling the content of study episodes from the advantage that comes from controlling the timing of those episodes. Across four experiments, self-directed learning significantly enhanced recognition memory, relative to passive observation. However, the advantage for self-directed learning was found to be present even under extremely minimal conditions of volitional control (simply pressing a button when a participant was ready to advance to the next item). Our results suggest that improvements to memory following self-directed encoding may be related to the ability to coordinate stimulus presentation with the learner’s current preparatory or attentional state, and they highlight the need to consider the range of cognitive control processes involved in and influenced by self-directed study.     

A comparison of self-directed and therapist-directed practice for fear reduction

Various amounts of self-directed and therapist-directed practice were evaluated in reducing fear of snakes. The conditions included an exclusively self-directed condition, a predominantly self-directed condition, a predominantly therapist-directed condition, and an exclusively therapist-directed condition. All treatments resulted in reduced fear on behavioral and self-report measures. The predominantly therapist-directed subjects showed more improvement than subjects in the exclusively self-directed and predominantly self-directed conditions, but not more improvement than subjects in the exclusively therapist-directed condition.     

The cognitive control of emotion

The capacity to control emotion is important for human adaptation. Questions about the neural bases of emotion regulation have recently taken on new importance, as functional imaging studies in humans have permitted direct investigation of control strategies that draw upon higher cognitive processes difficult to study in nonhumans. Such studies have examined (1) controlling attention to, and (2) cognitively changing the meaning of, emotionally evocative stimuli. These two forms of emotion regulation depend upon interactions between prefrontal and cingulate control systems and cortical and subcortical emotion-generative systems. Taken together, the results suggest a functional architecture for the cognitive control of emotion that dovetails with findings from other human and nonhuman research on emotion.     

The nature of cognitive development

Theories of cognitive development have led to enduring and fierce arguments that have been long on rhetoric but short on evidence. Constructivist theory has roots in Piagetian notions of cognitive development as proceeding from self-directed action during infancy. Nativist theories subsequently became popular by producing claims of cognitive precocity, but left open many central questions concerning mechanisms of development. Now, a new view of constructivism is experiencing a renaissance, having achieved greater psychophysical, computational and neural plausibility.     

The descent of cognitive development

A constructivist theory of the evolution of cognitive development is proposed. Seven propositions are posed plus supporting evidence. Constructing fundamental physical and logicomathematical conceptual universals underlies the development of cognition in primate phylogeny, ontogeny and history. Nevertheless, diverging onset and offset ages, velocity, extent, sequencing and organization mark the evolution of cognitive development in primate phylogeny. Thus, the evolution is heterochronic, not simply recapitulatory. Converging origins followed by diverging development of primates' conceptual constructions insures species‐specific cognitive specializations. Some specializations (e.g. recursive classifying) evolved in great ape development but not in monkey development; while others (e.g. hierarchically integrated classifying) evolved in human development only. Human enculturation and language (symbolic) rearing fosters quantitative but not qualitative progress in most of chimpanzees’ developing cognition. Heterochronic evolution provided humans with the widest and most synchronic ontogenetic window of opportunity for progressive cognitive development. The descendant cognitive development – humans’ precocial, integrated and extended intellectual constructions – bridges the evolution and history of ideas.