Correlation Between Age And Preference For Association With Individuals From A Age Group Or Bracket

Robert Butler— a physician, gerontologist, psychiatrist, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, who was the first director of the National Institute on Aging— described ageism as “[a] process of systematic stereotyping or discrimination against people because they are old, just as racism and sexism accomplish with skin color and gender. Ageism allows the younger generations to see older people as different than themselves; thus they subtly cease to identify with their elders as human beings.”

Ageism is endorsed throughout global culture and often is overlooked as a form of prejudice. However, this acceptance and ignorance towards an ageist culture, has proven to inflict severe mental, physical and emotional health implications. Although ageism is easily understood, it often goes unnoticed as a type of discrimination and unlike other prejudices, it will impact anyone who manages to make it to the sixth decade of live (Nelson, 2016). So, in hindsight it is discriminating against ones future self. Studies have identified that 80% of people aged 60 and older have experienced forms of ageism (Robbins, 2015). This figure is appalling considering the adverse health affects negative stereotyping can impose. In order to understand ageism and its affects it is vital to explore age prejudice from a multi-generational perspective. As well as understand the social-imagination contributing to a negative ideology of ageing. Only after understanding the aetiology of ageism, can interventions be put in place to eradicate this worldwide prejudice.

The age differences in self-awareness to automatic bias and the effects of stereotypes on how we perceive others.

Decrepit, senile, over the hill, old fart or slow driver are often the words you hear when referring to “the elderly”. In 1969, Robert Butler, the first director of the National Institute on Aging was the first to use the term “ageism” to describe the stereotyping of people because of their age. The term ageism contains a negative bias or attitude toward the aging. This it a form of discrimination. While there is other ‘isms used in American society; sexism, or racism, ageism enables the younger generation to see older people differently, they may be seen as just old people who are no longer able to actively contribute to society.

This implicit bias test applied to the issues of age; specifically whether or not the participant had implicit associations regarding young people versus old people. This particular application showed images of old faces and young faces, coupled with positive words and negative words. Upon completion of this particular test, results showed that the participant has a slight automatic association for youthful people than the elderly. These results were not surprising to the participant. All people should be treated with

Ageism is prejudice in which people are categorized and judged solely on the basis of their chronological age (Berger, 2008). Our western culture has embedded ageism into our everyday lives, and we may not be able to identify the ageist behavior when it occurs. Older adults are frequently given negative labels such as senile, sad, lonely, poor, sexless, ill, dependent, demented, and disabled. (McGuire, Klein, Shu-Li, 2008) It is inevitable that we will experience decline in physical and mental capacities. However, the timing, quality, and degree of the aging process are highly variable and very different for each individual. General assumptions and stereotypes about aging are harmful to individual senior adults and do not benefit

Stereotyping of elderly has resulted in inappropriate attitudes toward older persons and has conditioned people to think and act in terms of prejudice. The elderly may feel inadequate and helpless. Some even give up on life because they feel excluded. They often forget they are intelligent, fun-loving, creative, powerful, and even sexy human beings. Their age should not define who they are. With the increasing numbers of elderly, this group is the most powerful force in the entire population so they must take control of their lives.

According to Levy (2003), “The length of time needed to add participation in the reference group to participation in the membership group is likely to vary according to the negativity of an individual’s aging stereotypes. That is, the more negative the aging stereotypes, the more resistance there would be to identifying with the old.”Aging stereotypes may prevent individuals from identifying as “old” because they do not want to conform to the negative stereotypes such as becoming senile. It is almost a form of denial. This resistance from negative aging stereotypes may influence one’s subjective age identity as well. For instance, if one strongly does not feel that they are weak as a stereotype would describe them, then they would feel younger than their chronological age. If the storetype is congruent with the individual’s own self-concept then they would be more likely to adapt the stereotype as their own.

Losing such control is deemed unacceptable, and thus, they are discriminated against for something that may not be true. With these negative stereotypes, the elderly are being discriminated against and discarded, but this not only hurting them, it is detrimental on society as a whole (Andrews, 2012). It affects the interaction they have with people of various ages, and those interactions are what fuel the social discrimination and conflict.

Older persons today are treated as second-class citizens with nothing to offer society and then negative attitudes about aging that give rise to ageism tend to manifest themselves in subtle ways in the daily life of the average older person. Achenbaum (2015) details ageism by saying, “The term “ageism” was coined in 1969 by Robert N. Butler, M.D., then a 42-year-old psychiatrist who... headed the District of Columbia Advisory Committee on Aging.” (p. 10). Ageism is stereotyping or unfair treatment of groups or individuals because of age, (Fiore, 2011). Butler went further as quoted by Achenbaum (2015) who

Ageism is defined by the World Health Organization (2012) as discrimination against and stereotyping of an individual or group of people base on their age, it is commonly found in older people. The older people has been labeled as mentally slow, physically weak, helpless and “past by their due date.” These attitudes held against the older people restrict them in participating in any form of social, economic, and cultural activities. This paper will evaluate a scenario where ageism arose in the care of a patient, how the prejudice against the older people impacts the patient well-being and in what way this affect the professional practice of nursing using a Gibbs’s Reflection Model.

Negative stereo types of aging have a big influence on our attitudes. They become internalized as part of our paradigm. We then perceive what the stereotypes suggests rather than what is actually given. Our perception is distorted. We no longer see another person as he/she is, nor as they experience themselves, but only as an instantiation of our internalized stereotype. And in turn, stereotypes reflect the deeper and more general assumptions and value of a society.

Ageism is stereotyping and discriminating against individuals or groups on the basis of their age. Age discrimination is a form of (unfair treatment based on skin color, age, etc.) that can,eventually, affect anyone. It is guessed (number) that by the year 2025, one in five Americans will be 65 years old or older (Butler, 2007, p. 4). The Pew Research Center guesses (of a number) that the old population the United States will double between 2005 and 2025 (Large group & Cohn, 2008). As a result, an older (all the workers in a company or country), older caregivers, older medical patients, and older community members will be ordinary, and an increase in age discrimination may happen. Different forms of age discrimination are discussed here with

Research shows people who have more of a positive mind set about old age or being old are more likely to live longer than those opposed to with a negative mind set. Judith Graham is the author of “Older People Become What They Think, Study Shows”. The overall objective of this article is to prove having a negative or positive stereotypes about seniors and aging, will have an impact on old age people themselves. Whether older aged people believe the stereotypes or are being given perspectives of the stereotypes.

In 2015 Moody and Sasser reported: “For society, the decline in labor force participation represents a loss of productivity by older people - a group that, on average, is now living longer, is better educated, and is in better health than ever before’” (p. 391).