Communication Beliefs About Youth and Old Age in Asia and Canada

Ryan, Ellen Bouchard; Young-Sun, Jin; Anas, Ann P.; Luh, Jessica J.

doi:10.1023/b:jccg.0000044688.27282.7b

Cited by 22 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Hence, positive group distinctiveness and self-esteem are discursively renegotiated. Third, consistent with previous studies in other East Asian regions, older adults in Taiwan have ambivalent feelings about aging in that they desire to be respected but acknowledge that their age-based status is less endorsed (Ingersoll-Dayton et al, 2001;Ng et al, 2002;Ryan et al, 2004). Their communication with young people highlights such feelings.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

“…While filial piety in general is still upheld by both generations, older adults are stronger proponents of the age-based value than young adults (see Pecchioni, Ota, & Sparks, 2004 for a review; Yang, 1996;Zhang & Hummert, 2001;Zhang, Hummert, & Savundranayagam, 2004;Zhang, Lin, Nonaka, & Beom, 2005). On the other hand, many older adults also expressed an ambivalent view about aging (e.g., Ryan, Jin, Anas, & Luh, 2004). Older people recognize their marginalized roles and status in an industrialized society, and they struggle to redefine their values and identity (Chow, 1999;Coupland, 2004;Yue & Ng, 1999).…”

Section: Filial Piety and Communication Accommodation Theory In The Eastmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Taiwanese older adults’ perceptions of aging and communication with peers and young adults

Lin

Zhang

2008

JAPC

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Abstract:This study examined interview accounts from thirty-one Taiwanese older adults' about their inter-and intra-generational communication experiences, and perceptions of today's young and older people.Thematic analysis showed that Taiwanese older adults tended to initiate conversation topics accommodative to young people's lives such as their job and marriage, whereas conversation topics with their old-age peers centered on adjustment into senior years (e.g., health, exercise) and their children's achievement. Analysis also revealed some of the Taiwanese older adults' major perceptions of young people (e.g., less respectful towards elders) and their peers (e.g., losing status in the family). The discursive strategies used in constructing such perceptions (e.g., discourse on self exception, denial of self inclusion) demonstrated the ways in which they negotiated and managed their age identity in interand intra-generational communication. Results are discussed in light of Social Identity Theory, Communication Accommodation Theory, age identity, filial piety, and culture change.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

Section: Filial Piety and Communication Accommodation Theory In The Eastmentioning

confidence: 99%

Taiwanese older adults’ perceptions of aging and communication with peers and young adults

Lin

Zhang

2008

JAPC

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“…In contrast, Western cultures are held as traditionally valuing youth and holding more negative views about aging and the elderly (Palmore, 1975). That said, researchers have not found any consistent indication that attitudes towards aging and age-related stereotypes vary across Eastern versus Western cultures (Boduroglu, Yoon, Luo, & Park, 2006;Löckenhoff et al, 2009;Ryan, Jin, Anas, & Luh, 2004). However, the youth bias may be one respect in which cross-cultural differences on attitudes towards aging do emerge.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

The breadth and mnemonic consequences of the youth bias

Koppel

Berntsen

2016

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

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We have recently demonstrated the existence of the youth bias, referring to a tendency to favor adolescence and early adulthood over other lifetime periods when making inferences about the timing of important public events across the lifespan of a typical individual within one's culture. The youth bias integrates two discrete lines of research, that is, the literature on the privileged status of adolescence and early adulthood in human memory and cognition, and the literature on cognitive biases. Here we first examined whether the youth bias holds for specific categories of public events (i.e., deaths of public figures, US Presidential elections, and sporting events). We then investigated the possible role of the youth bias in structuring recall for public events, by probing, within-subjects, for the relation between: (1) These expectations of the timing, in a typical person's life, of the most important exemplar from each public event category, and (2) the age at which the cited event occurred on a recall question asking participants to cite the most important exemplar, in their own lifetime, from each category. We found a youth bias for each category. Additionally, responses to the youth bias question were correlated with the age at which the recalled event occurred, but only where particularly salient historical events did not play a central role in driving recall (i.e., for sporting events). We conclude that the youth bias holds across different types of public events and provides a default structure for organizing recall of public events.Notice: This is the author's version of a work that was accepted for publication in Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition. A definitive version was subsequently published in Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 4, 90-92. DOI: 10.1016/j.jarmac.2015.01.002 3 The Breadth and Mnemonic Consequences of the Youth Bias The Youth BiasWe have recently demonstrated that individuals demonstrate a youth bias, referring to a tendency to favor the period of adolescence and early adulthood over other lifetime periods when making inferences about the timing of important public events across the lifespan of a typical individual within one's culture (Koppel & Berntsen, 2014a). The youth bias integrates two discrete lines of research. The first research tradition incorporated into the youth bias concerns work demonstrating that the period of adolescence and early adulthood (e.g., ages 11 to 30) has a privileged status in human memory and cognition. This is reflected, for instance, in the reminiscence bump, wherein middle-aged and older adults demonstrate preferential memory for events of this period. The bump is found in both autobiographical memory (Rubin, Wetzler, & Nebes, 1986; for a review, including a demonstration of the shifting location of the bump according to the method used to cue memories, see Koppel & Berntsen, 2015) and memory for public events (e.g., Schuman & Scott, 1989; for a review, including a delineation of exceptions to the effect,...

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“…Accordingly, we examine both positive and negative beliefs about aging, consistent with the approach by Ryan et al [5] in their examination of communication skills of older adults. In addition, we aim to lend further insights by distinguishing between traits descriptive of social and emotional domains, and those descriptive of mental and physical domains.…”

Section: Stereotypes About Aging In Western Culturesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Harwood et al [3,4] reported that in both Asian and Western cultures while benevolence increased with old age, vitality decreased, and Ryan et al [5] documented that both positive and negative beliefs exist about communication skills of older adults in Chinese, Korean and Canadian cultures. These studies have served to highlight the need to consider negative as well as positive beliefs about old age in East-Asia.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Age-Related Stereotypes: A Comparison of American and Chinese Cultures

et al. 2006

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Background: It is commonly assumed that age-related stereotypes are more positive in East Asian cultures compared to Western cultures. However, research conducted in Western cultures has demonstrated that age-related stereotypes are multidimensional and their valence is content-dependent. Objective: In this study we investigated stereotypes about young and old adults, held by both young and old in the US and in China by focusing on the valence of age stereotypes across two content domains: social/emotional and mental/physical. The goal was to identify whether there were any cultural differences in age-related stereotypes in Chinese and American cultures. Methods: Both young and old Chinese and American participants were asked to describe typical young and typical old people. All responses were then coded for valence (positive/negative/neutral) and for content (mental/physical, social/emotional, other). Descriptors about young and old people were initially analyzed separately; then data were integrated to examine group tendencies to be more positive or negative for each target age group. Results: In both cultures, stereotypes reflected a shift from more positive to increasingly negative views of mental and physical traits as a function of aging. In social and emotional domains, stereotypes regarding old and young adults were relatively neutral, except for a small positive bias found among the young Chinese adults for both target age groups. Conclusion: Our results indicate that age-related beliefs regarding typical older adults are similar across East-Asian and Western cultures and that a global positive bias for old age in East-Asia is absent.

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Communication Beliefs About Youth and Old Age in Asia and Canada

Cited by 22 publications

References 18 publications

Taiwanese older adults’ perceptions of aging and communication with peers and young adults

Taiwanese older adults’ perceptions of aging and communication with peers and young adults

The breadth and mnemonic consequences of the youth bias

Age-Related Stereotypes: A Comparison of American and Chinese Cultures

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