Counteracting Age Stereotypes: A Self-Awareness Manipulation

The journal article used in reference to stereotyping was retrieved from the The Journal of Experimental Psychology. The purpose of this article is to illustrate how being exposed to social stereotypes can subconsciously affect our behavior. The article explores the theory that if the self is compared to the social stereotype of a perceived out-group, a group with which one does not identify, one will subconsciously behave differently. Therefore, there will be disparities between the similarities

Ageism, an idea created by Robert Butler, can be described as degrading behavior or emotions toward older people based on one’s own fears or preconceived ideas (Butler, 1969). This kind of behavior can consist of anything from refusing jobs to someone due to their age and perceived capabilities from not offering ideal care to older people because one believes it is wasteful of resources. The presence of ageism within society leads to a population bound by certain stereotypes that can prohibit the advancement of people considered to be older adults.

In every stage of development persons have stereotypes attached to various stages. The late adulthood stage has various stereotypes about what happen to individuals during this phase. Berger (2008) states that some of the stereotypes associated with the elderly is that they are not interested in sex, incompetent sexually, approaching senility or they are already there, old-fashioned, and inflexible. Hence, these stereotypes project them as lacking energy, fragile, submissive, dependent, irritable, and drained.

Implicit bias is an individual’s internal beliefs regarding others and influences how people conduct themselves in various settings and situations and may result in injustices such as stereotyping or racial profiling. The National Center for States Courts defines implicit bias as “judgement or behavior that results from subtle cognitive processes.” This behavior is difficult to identify, because people typically respond and behave in ways that seem appropriate and protect their own interests. Furthermore, these beliefs are more often subconscious than overt. Some groups are working to deter implicit bias and promote diversity.

Modern society view’s aging as a form of sickness and the elderly as persons who are closer to dying and death. This is what is often portrayed in our mass and social media. When considering issues of aging sociologists have found that more positive characteristics are often said for persons under sixty five years than for over sixty five years.

To stress the prevalence of the effects of stereotypes, Steele repeated his first experiment with white men and Asian men as the subjects. As the dominant group, white people are often unaffected by the stereotype, but in this particular experiment they underperformed greatly. Stereotypes even exist within racial groups. In one experiment, Steele had older people and younger people try to memorize 30 words for two minutes. Afterwards, they would try to write down as many words as they can. The group of older people who read an article confirming that age impairs memory wrote down significantly fewer words than the group of older people that did not receive the treatment. This is also an example of ageism (Henslin, 2017). A common motif in Steele’s experiments is a reminder of the stereotype, referred to as a cue. The experiments demonstrate that the smallest hint of a stereotype is enough of a cue to cause underperformance. In an experiment with girls and boys ages five to seven, the only difference between the treatment and control group was coloring a picture of a doll.

As people continue to live life and grow older, it is inevitable that they will age. Aging has many effects on an individual’s physical health, emotional well-being, and cognition. Key developmental changes occur in vision and hearing; both begin declining as people age (Weiten, 2014). The deterioration of these senses can be seen in Young@Heart during the scene where a few members are joking around in a car. The driver was Lenny, an ex-World War II pilot, because he was the only one out of the group who could still see properly (Walker, 2008). The vision of every other member in the car had worsened to a point where it impacted their functioning in daily life by limiting their ways of transportation.

In this paper we will analyze and discuss unconscious biases in our personal lives, workplace and home. How we become aware of these biases, what causes

In the study, the between-groups design and the cross-sectional design were used for research. There were 243 participants between the ages of 18 and 39, and the majority were females and Caucasians. The average age was about 21 years old.

Results: The study evaluated 22,599 samples representing 503,374,648 weighted individuals nationally from 2005-2008. Average age was 49 years, female 57%, Caucasian 83%, and the greatest percentage were from the South region of United States of America (36.8%).

What is the sample size? The sample size for this study was 233 patients and 148 nurses.

I really enjoyed the lecture on Ageism; it was very interesting and educational. I was surprised with the 20 True or False question on what is your aging I.Q. We do have different concept about elderly or older people, however after watching the lecture I have learned more true understanding about ageism. Ageism is when you judge people based on age. Unfortunately, I was surprised when this can be called as prejudice and stereotypes. I use to receive elderly jokes through email, which was really hilarious but didn’t think as being prejudice or stereotypes.

Ageism as defined by Merriam-Webster (2016), “prejudice or discrimination against a particular age-group and especially the elderly”. A study conducted by Nelson (2016), studied the effect of ageism and negative stereotypes which older adults

Labeling theory is concerned with the effects of labeling on individuals. Symbolic interactionists developed the theory and it focuses on how labels, which are of different forms, affect individual’s self-image as well as the society perceptions about an individual or a group of individuals (Eyetsemitan & Gire, 2003). The labels are often in form of names or reputation and enable the society to create deviants. According to the theory, labeling can alter the behaviors of individuals and make them start behaving according to societal perceptions (Kotter & Hess, 2012). Therefore, the theory focuses on establishing how labels mold the way people perceive themselves. In relation to media stereotyping and the old, stereotypes that perceive old age positively are likely to enhance positive image amongst the old while negative stereotypes may lead to self-denial amongst the old in the society (Eyetsemitan & Gire, 2003)

Aside from arising from mental shortcuts, it has also been proposed that stereotypes are a result of group conflict (Sherif, 1966). Regularly, individuals behave in a way that is expected of them in order to uphold the impressions others have of them. Thus, individuals act accordingly and embody the stereotype which is projected upon them (Baumeister & Bushman). The degree to which we rely on stereotypes when establishing judgements of others has been widely investigated in the field of social psychology. Frequently, the harmful consequences of relying on stereotypes is noted with the potential of this tendency to lead to prejudice and discrimination. Furthermore, the variation in the significance of stereotypes has been explored to determine