HS227

Textbook Notes
Chapter 1: Doddering but Dear: Process, Content, and Function in Stereotyping of
Older Persons

Introduction:
Age is a factor in determining our interactions with others; inferences made about their
age will drive social behavior (i.e. how loudly should I speak? are they familiar with pop
culture? Will they be competent?)
***think TGW, the judge who was, surprisingly familiar with computers and
coding despite his age***
Ageism becomes an issue when it becomes institutionalized and starts affecting medical
care, hiring decisions and social policy (caused by stereotyping)

Social-Psychological Processes of Stereotyping:

Processes of stereotyping against the elderly usually target cognition
There is a tripartite view in which three mechanisms affect attitudes:
o Prejudice (affective [moods, feelings])
o Discrimination (behavioural)
o Stereotyping (cognitive)
Stereotypes develop over time and as people interpret their ever changing environments,
their collection of beliefs are used to direct their social behavior
At the root of stereotyping is our impulse to assign objects, events, and people to
meaningful classes, about which we have established beliefs and expectations ***Think
OL109***

Categorization and Stereotype Formation:

The human mind must think with the aid of categories. Once formed, categories are the
basis for normal prejudgement. We cannot possibly avoid this process. Orderly living
depends on it ***Think of walking into a retirement home and instantly categorizing
staff, residents, and visitors***
Two established models explain how to determine the degree of fit:
o Prototype model:
This model suggests that categories do not have rigid boundaries ; people
are categorized based on how well we perceive them to fit the average
category member (prototype)
Hence, a prototype does not have to be an actual person, rather an image
that embodies the central characteristics of the groups main attributes
For example, prototyping an elderly person as suggested by television
include characteristics such as bent, slow, confused, and not up to date
o Exemplar model:
These are actual memories of real people
 This model suggests that we have multiple exemplars for each social
category and that we assign membership to individuals who resemble
many of the categorys exemplars
While neither models can account for all social cognitive representations, they contribute
to our understanding that stereotypes are the baseline used by people to organize and
construct their social taxonomies (however this is completely subjective as it is based on
personal experiences)
Consequences of mental representations of social categories:
o We perceive people to be similar when they are presented as members of the same
group (within group assimilation) and less similar when presented as members of
different groups (between group contrasts)
o We perceive out group members to be less variable than in group members (out
group homogeneity effect). Ex. Teenagers may view all seniors to be alike
o The in group is evaluated more favorably

Levels of Categorization:
Superordinate: this refers to elderly people at a global level of categorization
Subtypes: subcategories of superordinate; subtypes develop in response to stereotype-
incongruent information, allowing for characteristics that are inconsistent with beliefs
about the global category. This guards the perceiver from having to integrate new,
disconfirming information into an existing superordinate stereotype

Subtypes of Elderly People:

In older experiments three subtypes were identified
o Grandmotherly (sweet, kind, helpful)
o Elder Statesman (intelligent, competitive, aggressive, intolerant)
o Senior citizen (lonely, old fashioned, weak, worried)
Later research generated many more elderly subtypes

Stereotype Content:
Stereotype processes have been the focus of stereotyping research instead of stereotyping
content because the content of stereotypes is presumed to be volatile and random,
morphing overtime- however this has changed with recent research that suggests that the
content is also systematic

Two Dimensions of Stereotype Content:

This text suggests two core dimensions of general stereotypes content:
o Competence (independent, skilled, confident, able)
o Warmth (reliable, trustworthy, honest, friendly, good natured)
Other research in this field have resulted in very similar categorization
Along these dimensions, three types of stereotyped outgroups emerge (warm and
incompetent, cold and competent, cold and incompetent). Warm and competent is a
stereotype reserved for in groups. Each of these stereotypes reflects a unique prejudice
Three relevant findings:
o Two pivotal dimensions of stereotyping is warmth and competence
o Out groups are viewed as significantly higher on one dimension
 o Distinct prejudices accompany each stereotype content

Content of Elderly Stereotypes:

Elderly people fall consistently into the warm and incompetent stereotype, with their
rating for warmth being higher than their rating for competency
One study showed that there is an age based double standard in regards to memory: when
young people forgot things, it was attributed to lack of attention, but when elderly people
forgot things, it was attributed to incompetence. Further research shows that people are
quick to associate incompetency traits with elderly names
A similar pattern is observed in stereotype content that appears in research on beliefs
about desirability traits and their estimated ages of onset and closing. Traits related to
warmth were estimated to close around age 81, whereas traits related to competency were
estimated to close around age 70. Older adults become incompetent first, according to
stereotypes of lifespan development
Research on stereotyping and age in professional fields has shown that younger workers
are seen as more competent in task related jobs compared to older employees who are
seen as more warm. However, researchers have failed to demonstrate any actual
relationship with between age and job performance

Social Structure Predicts Stereotype Content of Elderly People:

Modernization theory explains the reduced status of older people as a function of the
transformation from traditional , agrarian societies to modern, industrial socieites
Four shifts in social structure are indicated :
o Improved health care has led to extended life span and an increase in population
of the elderly (resulting in the institutionalization of retirement and older people
having less financial muscle)
o Technological advances created jobs that older people were not trained for
o Urbanization caused young people to move from their homes into cities,
collapsing ties amongst extended family members (hence we no longer seek out
our great grandparents for guidance and wisdom)
o Public education has increased rates of literacy , eliminating elders as the
transmitters of cultural knowledge and wisdom
Along with this, older people tend not to lead in competitive roles, further encouraging
the perception of non-competency and non-competitiveness

Subtypes of Elderly People, Revisited:

The original primary subtypes fall alongside the dimensions of warmth and competence
o The grandmother is seen as warm but incompetent (nursing but ineffectual, not
intelligent or independent)
o Senior citizen lacks both competence and warmth;; is viewed as lazy and
responsible for their own dire situation
o Elder statesmen is seen as competent (independent and intelligent) but not warm
(forthcoming and aggressive)
Functions of Stereotyping:

Interpersonal Level: The Social Cognitive Perspective

Stereotyping serves two primary functions in interindividual situations
o First: it allows us to make judgements when effortful processing is difficult
(categorizing someone quickly and using the stereotypes to make inferences)
o Second: Stereotyping provides us with information on how to socially interact
with others, when we behave in ways that confirm our stereotypes, it is a process
referred to as behavioral confirmation or self-fulfilling prophecy
The continuum pole proposes two poles of impression formation:
o Category based: this is a top down route in which perceivers place a person in a
category from which they infer stereotypic information about the individual
o Attribute based: this is a bottom up approach where people attend to the details
about the individual, forming an impression based on fine points
A joint focus on cognition and motivation explain the five core social motives that can
help explain stereotyping relevant goals
o Belonging: this is the primary social goal and concerns peoples need to be
affiliated with others
This includes complying with in group behaviour, echoing the beliefs of in
group members, mimicking in group behavior
This will affect the degree to which elderly people will be treated (as in
group or out group)
o People want to maintain a shared social understanding and control of socially
effective interactions
The goal to understand others starts with automatic stereotyping
The motivation to control people can cause elderly people to be treated in
pre-emptive ways in order to maintain social hierarchy
o People strive to enhance the self. There is a suggestion that stereotyping of elderly
people acts as a mechanism to protect ones ego.
When younger people feel threatened by older people who remind them of
the transience of their youth, younger people may attribute perceived
mental and physical deficiencies to be the personal weakness of the
elderly person, versus the result of the aging process
o Trust: this relates to maintaining in group boundaries because interdependence is
essential to in group functioning (hence older people can be excluded)

Intergroup Level: Social Identity and Self-Categorization Theories

Social Identity theory views the division of the in-group and out-group (us and them) as
having both cognitive and motivational goals
o We are motivated to obtain positive social identities from the groups to which we
belong
If an in-group advantage is not obvious, we create positive distinctions
that allow us to favor the in group over the out group
Self-categorization theory extends Social Identity Theory by dropping the motivational
aspect
 o Explains that the self can be categorized on many levels which is determined by
how one relates to others (i.e. young in-groups will favor themselves to exclude
older out-groups

Conclusion:
Older people in the United States are viewed as warm, but incompetent (physically and
cognitively inept, but socially sensitive)
Historical and cultural transformations have caused the elderly to be views as low status
individuals
Due to stereotyping, older people face discrimination in the work field and medical
settings