Week 7: Stereotypes and Barriers Flashcards
How do stereotypes exist?
Explicit attitudes
Implicit priming
Explicit attitudes
Previously learned information
What people consciously endorse or believe
Direct and deliberate
Can be acknowledged
Example of explicit attitudes
I have to retire when I am 65 because that’s when i’m old
Implicit priming
Associations outside of the conscious awareness
Unconscious and effortless
Indirect and automatic
Involuntarily active
Implicit priming example
Older adult in LTC waving off help from a family member when they are trying to get up
Dimensions of stereotypes
- Paternalistic prejudice
- Admiration
- Contemptous prejudice
- Envious prejudice
Paternalistic prejudice
Low status
Not competitive
Pity, sympathy
Low competence, high warmth
Examples of paternalistic prejudice
Elderly people
Disabled people
Housewives
Admiration
High status
Not competitive
High Competence
High warmth
Examples of admiration
In-group
Close allies
Contemptous prejudice
Low status
Competitive
Disgust, Anger, Resentment
Low competence
Low warmth
Examples of contemptous prejudice
Welfare recipients, poor people
Envious prejudice
High status
Competitive envy
Jealousy
High competence
Low warmth
Examples of envious prejudice
Asian jews
Rich people
Feminists
Stone and Baker (2017)
Self-efficacy and biomechanics related to stair navigation in older adults
Primed older adults can navigate stairs with more confidence, quickness and efficiency
Barber (2020)
Stereotype threat can impair older adults’ physical performance
Dependent on task’s objective difficulty and participants’ subjective evaluations of their own resources
“Defeat aging”
Grey hair on women
Aging products
Media representations
96% positive portrayal for individuals 50 under years old
only 72% positive portrayal for individuals 50+ years old
Only 15% of images in news are individuals over 50 years old
Disney roles for older adults
39% of older adults had a major role
80% male
Many portrayed as negative or villainous
What is ageism?
How we think (stereotypes), feel (prejudice) and act (discrimination) towards others or ourselves based on age
Everyday ageism
Occurs in day-to-day lives through interpersonal interactions and exposure to ageist beliefs, assumptions, and stereotypes
Stats regarding everyday ageism
82% experience one or more forms of everyday ageism
65% exposure to ageist messages
45% ageism in interpersonal interactions
36% internalized ageism
Three main determinants of ageism
- Cognitive (stereotypes)
- Emotional (prejudice)
- Behavioural (discrimination)
How many people worldwide are ageist against older people?
50%
What does ageism affect?
Organizations
Institutions
Relationships
Ourselves
What does ageism exacerbate?
Other forms of disadvantage such as those related to sex, race and disability
How does ageism shorten older adult’s lives?
- Poor physical health
- Delay in injury or illness recovery
- Decreased mental health
- Increased social isolation and loneliness
- Lower quality of life
How does ageism affect everyone?
Costs society billions of dollars
Causes conflicts btwn generations
Causes loss of productivity in the workplace
Causes elder abuse
Programs to prevent ageism
Not many programs that aim to prevent ageism, more aim to improve ageism
We create programs for the issue itself, need to target source
Categories of everyday ageism
- Exposure to ageist messages
- Ageism in interpersonal interactions
- Internalized ageism
Exposure to ageist messages
In media (ex. Disney villains being older)
The way that buildings are set up
Ageism in interpersonal interactions
Interactions with family and friends
Internalized ageism
Personal beliefs about aging and older people
How is it all related?
Experiences of ageism are directly related to knowledge about healthy aging and affect attitudes of aging
How can we combat ageism?
- Policy and law
- Education
- Intergeneration
Policy and law
Equitable access to services
Adresses discrimination and inequality
Education
Educating individuals of all ages about aging and ageism
Intergeneration
Interventions to develop mutual understanding and cooperation of diff generations
Combatting ageism with research
- Investing resources in formative, monitoring and evaluation research
- Campaigns to foster a learning environment
- Research findings responded to in timely manner
- Include research throughout entire campaign
- Know when to measure, what to measure and how best to measure
Combatting ageism with community work
- Engage
- Involve
- Include
Engage
Incorporate voices of community
Involve
Involve a range of government structures
Include
Include representatives from affected communities in workshops, marketing and feedback
Controlled barriers to aging
- Nutrition and lifestyle habits
- Mindset/outlook
- People we spend time with
- Alterable environment
Non controlled barriers to aging
- Genetics
- Upbringing/family history
- Past choices
- Fixed environment
Most important barriers to healthy aging
- Multi-morbidity
- Low income
- Tobacco and alcohol use
Social comparison theory
Process through which people come to know themselves by evaluating their own attitudes, abilities and beliefs in comparison with others relates to self-evaluations and self-enhancement
Upward comparison
Comparing to someone who is better off than you
ex. older person comparing themself to younger person who is successfully aging
Downwards comparison
Comparing to someone who is worse off than you
ex. older person comparing to an even older frail person
Women comparing
Women w poor health are more likely to make upward comparison
Males comparing
Downwards comparison, especially physical health
Types of barriers
Physical
Social
Cognitive
Mental
Environmental
Physical barriers
- Age
- Advanced age
- Gender
- Co-morbidities
- Addiction
- Medical events
Social barriers
- Illness and disability
- Loss of contact w friends/relatives
- Lack of supportive community
- Lack of acceptable social opportunities
- Less access to quality relationships
- Physical and cognitive limitations
- Personal responsibilities
- Transportation
Social barrier example
Aging and driving
Doesn’t mean that everyone over age 65 shouldn’t drive
Spiritual factors
Can be facilitators or barriers to aging
- Nature and meaning of one’s life
- Balancing what can and cannot be changed
- Religious beliefs
- Formal religion
Environmental barriers
- Low income*
- Accessibility
- Education
- Safety
- Transportation and mobility*
- Services* and programs available
- Assisted living/ Housing *
Low income barriers for older adults
- Participating in activities and programs for healthy aging
- Initiating and maintaining a behaviour
- More likely to develop disease
- Declines in mental health
- declines in physical and cognitive function
- Food insecurity
Poverty and unattached older adults
Poverty and low income are more common in unattached older adults (widows, lacking spouse)
