Chapter 8

a special kind of social knowledge structure or social belief that represents organized prior knowledge about a group of people that affects how we interpret new information. 

Most are negative, but some are positive

• False: 
• They hold similar stereotypes

to size up people when we first meet them

True

age estimation for older adults is more accurate by older adults. 

Older adult stereotypes are more elaborate due to life experiences 

They view aging as more positive

when people judge older adults' failures in memory as more serious than younger adult failures

the more you know about things the more accurate your judgment

automatically activated negative stereotypes about aging that guide behavior without our knowing

implicit negative stereotypes negatively influence performance

labeled photos as younger or older, pleasant or unpleasant

fastest to label young-pleasant and older unpleasant

the way we communicate with older adults

ex: patronizing talk

an evoked fear of being judged in accordance with a negative stereotype about a group to which you belong

- negative stereotypes influence the cognitive functioning of older adults, as well as middle aged adults

physical aging

better performance on memory tasks and balancing performance when using positive stereotypes

studied stereotype threat: if you think a stereotype threat is given towards you, then you will act that way

individual's perceptions of their own age and aging 

social stereotypes

better well-beng, health, and longer life

• labeling theory
• resilience theory

when confronting an age-related stereotype, older adults are more likely integrate into their self-perception

confronting a negative stereotype results in a rejection of that view in favor of a more positive self-perception

when people allow their initial negative impressions to stand despite subsequent positive information

older adults are more prone to this bias

when we are faced with new situations, we draw on our previous experiences stored in memory

they must be available and accessible to guide behavior

• strength of information
• extensive past experiences

how the world works

when they are violated, we have to go into our past experiences to see what happens

trying to determine the source of a particular piece of information

the extent to which people rely on these judgments

• biases
• these judgments
• trouble distinguishing between true and false info

• neuroimaging research
• misleading info

challenging it is to figure out the source

declines in cognitive processing resources might impact the social judgment process

Research indicates that we make initial snap judgments and later correct or adjust them based on more reflective thinking

make older adults more vulnerable to social judgment biases

older adults hold on to initial judgments of why negative events occur more than younger adults. They also do not adjust initial judgments probably due to lack of cognitive processing resources

explanations people construct to explain their behavior

There are two: dispositional and situational

behavioral explanations that reside within the person (blaming yourself for ex)

behavioral explanations that reside outside the person

relying on dispositional information and ignoring situational info 

college students are more prone to this bias

life experience may combat this in middle adults

creating direction in our lives

• young adults= achievement
• older adults= balance between independence and sharing lives

• growing older causes shift in priorities; as people, we select goals that allow us to optimize our abilities at different ages
• - re-evaluating interests
• - focus in older adults is physical health and socio-emotional needs

perceived differently by older and younger adults

that we thoughtfully choose where to invest resources

the degree to which one believes that one's performance in a situation depends on something that one personally does

high: performance up to you

low: performance under the influence of others

which domain, such as intelligence or health

relationships, health, and cognitive functioning

assimilative activities

accommoations

immunizing mechanisms

used when one must prevent losses

important to self-esteem

ex: memory aids; you're making activities doable again

• involve readjusting one's goals an aspirations
• lessons negative self-evaluations
• ex: time increase in running--shift target time

alter the effects of self-discrepant information

look for alternative explanations or evidence for failures (ex: memory loss; blaming the environment for your losses

primary and secondary control

helps change the environment to match one's goals

• It involves bringing the environment into line with one's desires and goals
• Similar to assimilation activities except the difference is that it shifts the environment up to meet goals

reappraises the environment in light of one's decline in functioning

changing goals so you're in line with the environment

• involves bringing one's self in line with environment
• the individual turns inward toward the self

ex: fired from job--didn't like it anyway

more adaptive to indiviaul

minimize losses

occurs when two or more people work together to solve a cognitive task

it helps faciliate memory in older adults

the older you get, the more effective collaborative cognition becomes

the social context can serve a facilitative function in older adults' memory performance

in real world learning situations, older adults perform better

limit our explanations of social cognitive change simply to cognitive processing variables, but also include social factors