Aging Labels: The Decline of Control and the Fall of Self‐Esteem

Abstract

This paper describes several studies that investigated how negative labeling and stigmatization of the elderly might contribute to behavior that would then confirm prevalent stereotypes of old age and lead to lowered self-esteem and diminished feelings of control. First, the nature and extent of labeling processes regarding the elderly were described, followed by a description of studies considering how these stereotypes might affect actual interactions involving older persons. It was found that younger people make fewer demands on an elderly person, due to judgments of diminished competence. Reasons for the occurrence of negative labels were discussed. These include the operation of the availability heuristic regarding judgments of incidence of certain characteristics in the elderly population, and speculation that the elderly suffer from mislabeling and avoidance because they are relatively novel stimuli to most younger persons. Finally, studies are described that investigate how the consequences of negative labels and over-attribution to age-related deficits can be reversed by environmental interventions. Suggested strategies for social change are also briefly discussed.By the year 2000, it is estimated that over 15 percent of the population, 30 million people, will be 65 or over. Although aging affords status to people in some countries, in the United States and other industrialized nations the elderly often suffer

Ageism and Death: Effects of Mortality Salience and Perceived Similarity to Elders on Reactions to Elderly People

“…Applying this theory to ageism, Rodin and Langer (1980) have reported data that though elderly people are generally more positive than non-elderly people towards an elderly target, they can be less positive than non-elderly people if the older target shows signs of forgetfulness. Further, several studies have found that greater self-reported death anxiety predicted more negative attitudes towards elderly people (Depaola, Griffin, & Young, 2003;Hunter, Linn, & Pratt, 1979;Schwiebert, 1978).…”

Smile for a while: the effect of employee-displayed smiling on customer affect and satisfaction

“…Given the presumed increase in customers' levels of dominance in the presence of a smiling (versus non-smiling) employee, and research demonstrating that feelings associated with dominance (such as sense of control) have a positive impact on well-being outcomes (De Lange et al, 2003;Langer and Rodin, 1976;Rodin and Langer, 1977;1980;Seligman, 1975), the author predicts that customers' levels of dominance should mediate the effect of employee-displayed smiling on customer satisfaction. However, given that feelings of dominance are less characteristic of a smile than feelings associated with pleasure, dominance should have a weaker influence on customers' subsequent satisfaction judgments compared to pleasure.…”

“…As such, despite Barger and Grandey's (2006) claim that their study is "the first known study to examine whether mimicry occurs in a service context and whether it explains why service with a smile predicts customer mood" (p. 1231), the validity of their positive affect index can questioned because it taps two distinct affective dimensions in the S-O-R model. Therefore, given that most studies have suggested that pleasure should mediate the effect of employee-displayed smiling on customer satisfaction, and that such a relationship would be justified by emotional contagion and feelings-asinformation theory, the author hypothesizes: H3a: Pleasure mediates the effect of employee-displayed smiling on customer satisfaction.Just as the effect of employee-displayed smiling seems to be less evident for arousal than for pleasure, the mediating influence of arousal on customer satisfaction is likely to be Given the presumed increase in customers' levels of dominance in the presence of a smiling (versus non-smiling) employee, and research demonstrating that feelings associated with dominance (such as sense of control) have a positive impact on well-being outcomes (De Lange et al, 2003; Langer and Rodin, 1976;Rodin and Langer, 1977;1980;Seligman, 1975), the author predicts that customers' levels of dominance should mediate the effect of employee-displayed smiling on customer satisfaction. However, given that feelings of dominance are less characteristic of a smile than feelings associated with pleasure, dominance should have a weaker influence on customers' subsequent satisfaction judgments compared to pleasure.…”

Cross-cultural differences in memory: The role of culture-based stereotypes about aging.

“…Although the predominant finding in the cognitive gerontology literature is that memory performance tends to decline as people age (Kausler, 1994;Zacks, Hasher, & Li, 1999), some researchers have suggested that the decline may not be inevitable and can be influenced by older adults' stereotypically negative expectations about the aging process itself, as well as through reduced selfefficacy levels (e.g., Lachman, Weaver, Bandura, Elliott, & Lewkowicz, 1992;Langer, Rodin, Beck, Weinman, & Spitzer, 1979;Rodin & Langer, 1980). Although the research on whether self-efficacy beliefs affect memory and cognition across the lifespan has sometimes produced mixed results, there is nonetheless empirical evidence to suggest that positive expectations may be related to enhanced cognitive performance and negative expectations to poorer cognitive performance (Albert, Jones, Savage, Berkman, Seeman, Blazer, & Rowe, 1995;Hertzog, Dixon, & Hultsch, 1990;Ryan, Kwong-See, Meneer, & Trovato, 1992).…”