Age Specificity in Explicit and Implicit Endorsement of Prescriptive Age Stereotypes

Abstract

In this study, we investigated explicit and implicit endorsement of prescriptive age stereotypes. To achieve that, we captured endorsement of a wide range of prescriptive expectations targeting both younger (younger adults are expected to be ambitious, eager to learn, unconventional, respectful) and older (older adults are expected to stay active, to be generous, dignified, and wise) people. Younger (n = 58, 50% female, Mage = 26.07 years, SD = 3.01) and older adults (n = 75, 44% female, Mage = 66.69 years, SD = 4.63) participated in the study. We assessed implicit endorsement of prescriptive age stereotypes with the Propositional Evaluation Paradigm (PEP) and used a direct measure to assess explicit endorsement. In general, we found strong support for age-specificity in both explicit and implicit endorsement of prescriptive age stereotypes: Sentences ascribing expectations for young/old to the respective age group (e.g., “young should be ambitious”; “old should be wise”) were endorsed much more strongly than sentences in which expectations for young/old were ascribed to the other age group (e.g., “old should be ambitious”; “young should be wise”). Age group differences in the endorsement of prescriptive age stereotypes were found. Compared to younger participants, older participants showed stronger endorsement for prescriptive beliefs targeting both younger and older targets. Explicit and implicit endorsement of prescriptive age stereotypes did not correlate with one another, thus revealing they might assess independent belief systems with different predictive potential.

Endorsement and embodiment of cautiousness-related age stereotypes

“…Beyond those previous studies mainly focusing on either young or older individuals, our study included both young and older samples, thus allowing us to compare the strength of endorsement of age stereotypes between the two age groups. Our results suggest that older individuals endorse age stereotypical beliefs to a stronger degree than young adults do, and this pattern was apparent for both explicit and implicit age stereotypes (for a similar pattern of findings regarding the implicit and explicit endorsement of prescriptive age stereotypes, see de Paula Couto et al, 2022b ). The stronger tendency of endorsing age stereotypes among older adults may reflect (1) a longer history of stereotype-related experiences (relating to both age groups), which might confirm and strengthen that the age stereotypes were acquired earlier in life (for a related discussion, see de Paula Couto et al, 2022b ); and (2) a chronic suppression failure to inhibit age stereotypic thoughts due to inhibitory deficits ( von Hippel et al, 2000 ; Radvansky et al, 2010 ).…”

“… De Houwer et al, 2015 ). For instance, an association between “old” and “cautious” can reflect the proposition that “old people are cautious,” but can also reflect the prescriptive belief that “old people should be cautious” (e.g., de Paula Couto et al, 2022a ; see also de Paula Couto et al, 2022b ). On the other hand, simple associative relations between the category “old” and specific attributes (e.g., old—slow, old—experienced) have been shown to be extremely fragile and unreliable, with simple category primes being unable to elicit an activation of specific attributes ( Casper et al, 2011 ; Huang and Rothermund, in press ; Müller and Rothermund, 2014 ; see Kidder et al, 2018 , for a review).…”

Manipulating prescriptive views of active aging and altruistic disengagement.

“…These are affected by self-presentation and social desirability. In refraining from (explicitly) endorsing PVoA, individuals aim not to appear too restrictive on others (de Paula Couto, Huang, & Rothermund, 2022). Endorsement ratings in our experiments might reflect desirability concerns, with lower endorsement of disengagement than activation.…”

“…We focused on active aging and altruistic disengagement, which do not represent prescriptions for old age in their entirety (de Paula Couto, Huang, & Rothermund, 2022). To reach a more nuanced understanding, it is also necessary to investigate PVoA that have no or positive intergenerational implications (e.g., dignity or wisdom).…”

“…PVoA are also more socially condoned than other prescriptive views (Martin & North, 2022). Many individuals, including older adults themselves, endorse PVoA (de Paula Couto, Fung, et al, 2022; de Paula Couto, Huang, & Rothermund, 2022; Pavlova et al, 2022). Further attesting to the idea that PVoA represent actual societal views, a recent German study (Kessler & Warner, 2022) with 2,000 respondents (16–90 years) showed that more than two thirds of participants agreed with active aging and more than one third agreed with altruistic disengagement.…”