In the eye of the beholder: Can counter-stereotypes change perceptions of older adults’ social status?

Abstract

Negative age-related stereotypes often entail the perception that older adults have a lower social status than middle-aged adults. We hypothesized that older adults are perceived to have lower social status because they are less likely to be seen in prestigious occupational positions. People tend to infer general assumptions about group characteristics from exemplars. According to this, presenting a stereotype-inconsistent exemplar (i.e., older person in a high-status position) should change perceptions of older adults' social status. Study 1 (60 countries, N = 86,026, 18-99 years) showed that people in countries with an older relative to a younger political leader do not perceive as great a decline in social status from middle-aged to older adults. Study 2 (N = 131; 19-74 years) tested the causal link demonstrating that participants exposed to older exemplars holding a prestigious occupational position were significantly more likely to rate older adults as having a relative higher social status. We discuss implications for future interventions to change negative age-related stereotypes. (PsycINFO Database Record

Rising above It: Status Ambivalence in Older Adults

“…Consistent with previous research [11, 12, 31], study 2 found an inverted U-curve shape in perceived social status across the lifespan. However, we also observed an interesting bimodal distribution for one of the measures indicating that there may be one group of participants who viewed older adults as having high social status and another who view them as having low social status.…”

“…In line with previous research [11, 12, 31], we submit that older adults are likely to share the general perception of an inverted U-curve shaped function of age-related social status across the life span, but do not share this view for themselves. Thus, although they may perceive that older adults as a group have low social status, they will perceive themselves as individuals as having a relatively higher social status than older adults in general.…”

“…Previous research has shown that old age is associated with a decline or loss in social status, and that this is a perception held by all age groups, including by older adults themselves [11]. Indeed, the lifespan pattern of social status reflects an inverted U-curve shape with middle-aged adults being perceived to have a higher social status than both younger and older adults [11, 12]. Although age-related social status is inextricably linked to age stereotypes, their relationship is complex.…”

Sex ratio and maternal age in a natural fertility, subsistence population: Daughters, sons, daughters

“…The resulting increase in energy and social resources available for reproduction could help explain the increased production of costlier sons observed during mothers' mid‐reproductive careers. In many traditional, natural fertility societies, women's aging is often associated not only with somatic maturation but also with increases in social status and experience (McDonald & Mair, ; Robertson & Weiss, ). Social status and experience can, in turn, facilitate access to higher quantities and quality of food resources (Meehan, Quinlan, & Malcom, ) and reduced energy expenditures.…”

Older Worker Identity and Job Performance: The Moderator Role of Subjective Age and Self-Efficacy

“…Despite the broad dispersion of negative stereotypes towards older workers, empirical research on their impact on performance is still incipient. As indicated by Chiesa et al [5], the loss in productive terms seems to be mediated by the self-efficacy of the group of older workers, which offers an opportunity to mitigate reduced performance through an intervention to increase self-efficacy [34]. Self-efficacy consists of the personal beliefs in their own abilities to implement everything needed to perform a specific task in a satisfactory way [35,36].…”