Stereotype Threat Impairs Older Adult Driving |
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| Authors: | Ann E. Lambert Jason M. Watson Jeanine K. Stefanucci Nathan Ward Jonathan Z. Bakdash David L. Strayer |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA;2. The Brain Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA;3. Center on Aging, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA;4. US Army Research Laboratory, Adelphi, USA |
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| Abstract: | Stereotypes can harm human performance, especially when activated in individuals with diminished working memory capacity (WMC). Performance implications for the stereotype of poor driving in older adults were investigated. Using a sample of older adults, WMC (the ability to maintain task goals and ignore distractions) and driving performance [brake reaction time (RT), following distance, and crashes] were assessed, the latter using a high‐fidelity simulator. Elderly participants under stereotype threat with reduced WMC exhibited slower brake RTs and longer following distances compared with a control condition that was not threatened. This driving profile was characteristic of cognitive distraction. Stereotype threat has clear consequences for human performance in a common real‐world task—driving—that is critical to public safety. Furthermore, these findings suggest caution in how the media and public policy communicate information about older adult driving.Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
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