Meta-analytic techniques were used to compare men's and women's attitudes toward homosexual persons, homosexual behaviors, and gay people's civil rights. As expected, size of sex differences varied across these categories. Men were more negative than women toward homosexual persons and homosexual behavior, but the sexes viewed gay civil rights similarly. Men's attitudes toward homosexual persons were particularly negative when the person being rated was a gay man or of unspecified sex. Women and men evaluated lesbians similarly. Ratings of homosexual persons and homosexual behavior were least likely to differ by subject sex for samples of nonprofessional adults. In addition, sex role attitude mediated sex differences in attitudes toward homosexuality. Biases in the research literature and areas that deserve further attention, such as the confounding of sample with measurement strategy and the tendency to study gay men or targets of unspecified sex, are discussed.

This meta-analytic review of 232 effect sizes showed that, across five categories, attitudes were more negative toward older than younger adults. Perceived age differences were largest for age stereotypes and smallest for evaluations. As predicted by social role theory (Eagly, 1987), effect sizes were reduced when detailed information was provided about the person being rated. The double standard of aging emerged for evaluations and behavior/behavioral intentions, but was reversed for the competence category. Perceptions depended on respondent age also. Results demonstrated both the multi-dimensionality and the complexity of attitudes toward older adults (Hummert, 1999; Kite & Wagner, 2002).For over half a century, gerontologists have puzzled over North Americans' fascination with youth and their reluctance to accept aging gracefully. Initially, research on these issues was based on the assumption that negative attitudes toward older adults were widespread (Butler, 1969). Subsequent reviewers have reached different, and sometimes opposite conclusions. At the same time that Green (1981) 242 Kite, Stockdale, Whitley, and Johnson determined that negative age-related stereotypes were the norm, Lutsky (1980) concluded that age, in and of itself, was less important in determining attitudes toward older adults than were other types of information. More recent reviewers (Hummert, 1999; Kite & Wagner, 2002) echoed McTavish's (1971 conclusion; the answer to the seemingly simply question "Does ageism exist?" is not an unequivocal yes. Instead, people's views about aging are multidimensional, with both positive and negative elements.This article examines the complexities of age-related attitudes and stereotypes through a meta-analytic review of literature on ageism. Specifically, we update and expand upon Kite and Johnson's (1988) previous meta-analysis. Kite and Johnson reviewed the literature on this topic prior to December 1985, examining a total of 43 independent effect sizes. Thirty of those effect sizes indicated that people were more negative toward older than toward younger people, eleven indicated more negative attitudes toward younger than toward older people, and two indicated exactly no difference in attitudes toward the two groups. The overall effect size, as indexed by the d statistic was 0.39, indicating that attitudes toward older persons were more negative than attitudes toward younger persons by approximately onethird of a standard deviation.Although this finding indicated a bias against older adults, these effect sizes were not homogeneous. That is, the difference in attitudes expressed about older and younger adults varied widely across studies. Therefore, potential moderators of the effect sizes were explored to account for this variation. Results supported Lutsky's (1980) contention that people do not rely solely on information about age in judging older adults. Specifically, Kite and Johnson (1988) found that the context provided for the ratings moderated the results. That is, when specific info...

Beliefs about the characteristics of male and female homosexuals and heterosexuals were assessed to determine the degree to which stereotypes of homosexuals are consistent with the inversion model proposed by Freud (1905) and others, i.e., the assumption that homosexuals are similar to the opposite–sex heterosexual. Results showed that people do subscribe to an implicit inversion theory wherein male homosexuals are believed to be similar to female heterosexuals, and female homosexuals are believed to be similar to male heterosexuals. These results offer additional support for a bipolar model of gender stereotyping, in which masculinity and femininity are assumed to be in opposition.

Attitudes toward the elderly have been examined in a number of empirical studies, yet the question of whether the elderly are viewed more negatively than younger persons has not been resolved. A meta-analysis of the literature was conducted to examine this question; results demonstrated that attitudes toward the elderly are more negative than attitudes toward younger people. However, smaller differences between the evaluations of elderly and younger targets were found when (a) the study used measures of personality traits (compared with measures of competence), (b) there were a larger number of dependent measures included in the effect size, (c) specific information was provided about the target person (compared with when a general target such as old person was used), and (d) a between-subjects design (compared with a within-subjects design) was used. These results support Lutsky's (1981) conclusion that age, in and of itself, seems to be less important in determining attitudes toward the elderly than other types of information. The methodological limitations within the literature and a need to consider multiple components of attitudes toward older individuals are discussed.

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Stereotypes of age and gender are examined with 35-year-old and 65-year-old men and women as target persons. Age stereotypes were more pronounced than gender stereotypes; respondents offered more elaborate free-response descriptions of older targets than of younger targets and described same-age targets more similarly than same-sex targets. On the rating scales, older people were judged less likely to possess masculine characteristics, but ratings of feminine characteristics were largely unaffected by age. Older people were not uniformly devalued on the age-stereotypic characteristics, but when negative evaluations occurred they were of the older targets. These results attest to the importance of a multidimensional conception of age and gender stereotypes.