Many studies conducted in the United States (U.S.) have documented a positivity effect in aging--a tendency for older adults to remember more positive than negative information in comparison to young adults. Despite this cognitive emotional benefit, U.S. adults still hold a more negative view of aging compared to adults in Asia. We hypothesized…

The use of images of older people in the British advertising media has been under-researched to date. Further, previous research in any country has tended to examine such images from an "a priori" framework of general impressions and stereotypes of older people. This study addresses these issues with British consumers' (n = 106)…

Attitudes toward older people can influence how they are treated and their cognitive and physical health. The populations of the United States and many other countries have become more ethnically diverse, and are aging. Yet little research examines how ethnic diversity affects attitudes toward older people. Our study addresses this research gap.…

The primary goal of the study was to compare adult age groups on aging bias, with measures of knowledge of aging in the physical, psychological, and social domains and life satisfaction. The study sample, consisting of 752 men and women, 40 to 95 years of age, was tested using Neugarten, Havighurst, and Tobin's (1961) Life Satisfaction Index (LSI)…

Young adults in Canada (N = 161) and South Korea (N = 165) rated either themselves or typical others at target ages 25, 45, and 65 years. In both countries, poorer memory was anticipated with each increase in age on all 3 memory belief factors: capacity, change, and locus. Both groups demonstrated a self-protective bias about age-related decline,…

Although research has shown that older adults are negatively affected by aging stereotypes, relatively few studies have attempted to identify those older adults who may be especially susceptible to these effects. The current research takes steps toward identifying older adults most susceptible to the effects of stereotype threat and investigates…

Reviews recent histories of geriatrics which suggest that early physicians contributed to the degradation of old age by labeling it a disease. Records of the Boston Almshouse Hospital indicated that assessments of the elderly's morbidity were prompted as much by doctors' desires for self-advancement as by the elderly's needs. (JAC)

Presents a historical perspective on the meaning of senility, representing a significant change in beliefs about the nature of old age. Before the nineteenth century, to be senile meant simply to be old. By the late nineteenth century, old age was assumed to be synonymous with debilitating illness. (JAC)

Healthy, community-dwelling elderly individuals (n=43) assessed typicality and approximate age of individuals representing 10 stereotypes of elderly people identified in prior research with young adults. Results showed that older adults saw stereotypes as less typical of elderly individuals than did young adults. Both groups agreed on which…

Critics have charged that American advertisers have often portrayed the elderly with negative stereotypes. These negative portrayals, they suggest, not only offend elderly consumers but also contribute to ageism. This study examined whether American advertisers have indeed used a great deal of negative stereotyping of the elderly, as the critics…

Assessed attitudes toward older versus younger persons, age discrimination performance, and seriation ability in 68 three- to six-year-old children. Results showed children preferred young people over old people in all situations. A significant relationship was found between children's ability to discriminate old from young people and their…

Overviews evolving program of interdisciplinary, multimethod research concerned with intergenerational communication. Concludes from studies that young people process and respond to speech of older people in stereotypical ways. Uses lifespan and intercultural perspectives to argue that communicative patterns observed in studies are sometimes…

The Knowledge of Memory Aging Questionnaire (KMAQ) measures laypersons' knowledge of memory changes in adulthood for research or educational purposes. Half of the questions pertain to normal memory aging and the other half cover pathological memory deficits due to non-normative factors, such as adult dementia. In this study, we compared memory…

Adolescents, middle-aged, and elderly adults used a Likert scale to describe an ideal, real, or typical person of either their own age group or one of the other two. Attitudes reflected stereotypes when broad categorical decisions were required, but stereotypes broke down when known people were characterized. (Author/ABL)

Investigates use of age stereotypes in evaluating individuals' behavior in context-specific situations. Data reveals limited but conflicting evidence of the use of stereotypes when stimuli portrayed target characters in lifelike situations rather than in an experimental vacuum. Argues that stereotyping is greatly influenced by other aspects of the…