Mary Lee Hummert

Multiple stereotypes of elderly and young adults: a comparison of structure and evaluations.

Following Schmidt and Bolands (1986) method, college student informants sorted a trait set into 1 or more groups with reference to elderly or young adults. Analysis of these data confirmed the existence of multiple stereotypes of both age groups but showed little similarity between stereotypes of the elderly and the young. Other informants made attitude, age, and typicality judgements of persons representing either the elderly or young adult stereotypes. Results showed that attitudes varied with the stereotype activated and were similar for analogous elderly and young adult stereotypes. Results also suggested that young adults do not view negative stereotypes as more typical of the elderly than positive ones; however, they believe the negative stereotypes are more characteristic of the old-old than are the positive and see positive stereotypes as more typical of young adults than negative ones.

Communication Predicaments of Aging Patronizing Behavior toward Older Adults

Within a communication accommodation framework, this article reviews the emerging literature on patronizing communication directed to older adults in both institutional and community settings. The verbal and nonverbal features of patronizing messages (modifications of communication based on age-based stereotypes of incompetence and dependence) are outlined, with an emphasis on the multiple, often ambiguous meanings of such messages. The authors organize the discussion of the functions and consequences of patronizing communication around the dual purposes of intergenerational communication (respect and caring) and emphasize how a focus on caring for frail elders can lead to over parenting and dependency-supportive behaviors. Both field studies of staff talk addressed to older care receivers and evaluative studies with conversational scenarios have permitted analyses of the influences of provider behavior, recipient characteristics, context, and recipient response on the meaning of patronizing messages.

How Young and Older Adults Differ in Their Responses to Perceived Age Discrimination

The authors examined the consequences of perceived age discrimination for well-being and group identification. The rejection-identification model suggests that perceived discrimination harms psychological well-being in low status groups but that group identification partially alleviates this effect. The authors hypothesized that this process model would be confirmed among older adults because their low status group membership is permanent but not confirmed among young adults whose low status is temporary. Using structural equation modeling, the authors found support for the hypothesized direct negative link between perceived age discrimination and well-being among older adults, with increased age group identification partially attenuating this effect. For young adults, these relationships were absent. Differences in responses to discrimination appear to be based on opportunities for leaving a low status group.

Using the implicit association test to measure age differences in implicit social cognitions.

Two studies investigated the use of the Implicit Association Test (IAT; A. G. Greenwald, D. E. McGhee, & J. L. K. Schwartz, 1998) to study age differences in implicit social cognitions. Study I collected IAT (implicit) and explicit (self-report) measures of age attitudes, age identity, and self-esteem from young, young-old, and old-old participants. Study 2 collected IAT and explicit measures of attitudes toward flowers versus insects from young and old participants. Results show that the IAT provided theoretically meaningful insights into age differences in social cognitions that the explicit measures did not, supporting the value of the IAT in aging research. Results also illustrate that age-related slowing must be considered in analysis and interpretation of IAT measures.

Stereotyping of older adults: The role of target facial cues and perceiver characteristics.

This 2-part study used photograph-age and photograph-stereotype sorting tasks to examine the role of target facial cues in stereotyping of older persons. As predicted, young, middle-aged, and older participants associated photographs of those who looked older and those with a neutral facial expression with fewer positive stereotypes than other photographs. Participants also selected fewer positive stereotypes for photographs of women than of men, except when the photographs showed old-old (80 years and over) men. Participant age affected stereotyping only of the photographs of old-old persons, with older participants selecting fewer positive stereotypes for those photographs than middle-aged and young participants. These results establish the importance of facial cues in the age stereotyping process and suggest age boundaries for positive stereotypes of men and women.

A Social Cognitive Perspective on Age Stereotypes

Publisher Summary This chapter examines the social cognitive perspective on age stereotypes. . The application of social cognitive principles and methods to age stereotype research has contributed to the quality of that research in several ways. First, social cognitive theories have provided a conceptual framework that can account both for age stereotypes as knowledge structures. Second, a social cognitive perspective links age stereotype research to the larger social psychological literature so that the similarities, as well as differences, between age stereotyping and other forms of stereotyping can be examined. Third, it emphasizes the social aspect of social cognition. Finally, the social cognitive literature has provided productive directions or prior research on age stereotypes and should serve as a continued source of research questions in the future. By a consideration of the social cognition research, not only the knowledge of age stereotypes be enriched by a consideration of the social cognition research issues outlined but the investigation of those issues may benefit from a focus on age stereotypes. The chapter concludes that, as the only major group classification that changes over time—outside the control of the individual—age stereotypes offer the unique advantage of allowing the study of developmental as well as intergroup perception processes in stereotyping.

Interpersonal communication in older adulthood : interdisciplinary theory and research

Interpersonal Communication and Older Adulthood - Mary Lee Hummert, Jon F Nussbaum and John M Wiemann An Introduction Age-Based Perceptions of Conversational Skills among Younger and Older Adults - Ellen Bouchard Ryan et al Age-Related Problems in the Use of Proper Names in Communication - Gillian Cohen The Effects of Alzheimers Dementia on Language and Communication - Susan Kemper and Kelly Lyons Presbycusis, Communication, and Older Adults - William A Villaume, Mary Helen Brown and Rieko Darling Verbosity in Older Adults - Dolores Pushkar Gold, Tannis Y Arbuckle and David Andres Talking Age and Aging Talk - Howard Giles et al Communicating through the Lifespan Stereotypes of the Elderly and Patronizing Speech - Mary Lee Hummert Frailty, Language and Elderly Identity - Bryan C Taylor Interpretive and Critical Perspectives on the Aging Subject Friendship in Older Adulthood - Jon F Nussbaum The Patients Presentation of Self in an Initial Medical Encounter - Michele G Green et al

Judgments about Stereotypes of the Elderly Attitudes, Age Associations, and Typicality Ratings of Young, Middle-Aged, and Elderly Adults

In this study, 125 adults in three age groups (young, middle-aged, and elderly) rated the typicality and approximate age of individuals representing 11 stereotypes of the elderly. Participants indicated their attitudes toward the individuals on a set of bipolar adjective scales. Attitude results conformed to the pattern predicted. Attitudes toward individual stereotypes varied according to the valence of each stereotype rather than participant age. Likewise, age judgments varied with the valence of the stereotype. Participants of all ages chose the older age ranges for the more negative stereotypes and younger age ranges for the positive stereotypes. Finally, elderly participants gave lower typicality ratings to the stereotypes than those in the other two age groups, although those in all age groups ordered the stereotypes similarly in terms of their typicality. Results are discussed in terms of their relationship to the cognitive representations of aging held by those in the three age groups.

Perceptions of Conflict Management Styles in Chinese Intergenerational Dyads

We examined intergenerational communication and conflict management styles in China. Older and younger Chinese adults were randomly assigned to evaluate one of four conversation transcripts in which an older worker criticizes a young co-worker. The young workers communication was varied across the transcripts to reflect four conflict management styles: competing, avoiding, accommodating, and problem-solving. As expected, older participants favored the accommodating style over the problem-solving style. Young adults either preferred the problem-solving style to the accommodating style, as predicted, or judged the two styles as equally positive. The results illustrate the juxtaposition of tradition and modernization/globalization in the changing Chinese cultural context, and demonstrate how such cultural changes are reflected in interpersonal communication between the generations.

Enhancing Communication With Older Adults: Overcoming Elderspeak

Because communication behaviors are difficult to change, practicing speech without elderspeak is helpful in preparing for actual clinical situations. The Communication Enhancement Model describes potential benefits of eliminating elderspeak in speech to older adults. Minimizing the use of elderspeak is hypothesized to reduce stereotype-based messages that older adults are incompetent and dependent. An improved communication environment promotes the cognitive and functional abilities of older adults. Achieving optimal communication environments may contribute to higher levels of well-being for older adults and to increased quality of life. Young adult care providers also may benefit from increased job satisfaction if they relate closely with care recipients.