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Negative attitudes toward older adults are thought to be prevalent within the American culture. However, research on attitudes presents conflicting results. In this study, 2 factors were hypothesized to influence reported attitudes toward older adutts: the attitudinal instrument used (a rating task vs. an open-ended task) and the types of attributes assessed (cognitive, personal-expressive, and physical ) . The results confirmed that attitudes toward older adults were negative relative to attitudes toward younger and middle-aged adults, but the pattern of negativity differed by task and attribute category. Negativity was most apparent in the open-ended task and in the physical category. These results indicate that although general, negative stereotypes may exist, older adults are viewed as multidimensional people with both positive and negative attributes.