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
True or False:
Young and older adults drastically diffe in their stereotypes about aging.
False:
They hold similar stereotypes
Why are stereotypes used?
to size up people when we first meet them
True or False: All adults use stereotypes for older adults.
Explain.
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
age-based double standard
when people judge older adults' failures in memory as more serious than younger adult failures
What is the more you know attitude?
the more you know about things the more accurate your judgment
Implicit stereotypes and John Bargh findings?
automatically activated negative stereotypes about aging that guide behavior without our knowing
labeled photos as younger or older, pleasant or unpleasant
fastest to label young-pleasant and older unpleasant
Implicit stereotyping influences what?
the way we communicate with older adults
ex: patronizing talk
stereotype threat
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
Influence of stereotypes is not restricted to memory. Explain.
physical aging
better performance on memory tasks and balancing performance when using positive stereotypes
Claude Steel
studied stereotype threat: if you think a stereotype threat is given towards you, then you will act that way
SElf-perception of aging
- The __ we hold about aging influence what we believe about ourselves.
Positive self-perception= __
individual's perceptions of their own age and aging
social stereotypes
better well-beng, health, and longer life
Two frameworks for self perception influence
labeling theory
resilience theory
labeling theory
when confronting an age-related stereotype, older adults are more likely integrate into their self-perception
resilience theory
confronting a negative stereotype results in a rejection of that view in favor of a more positive self-perception
negativity bias
when people allow their initial negative impressions to stand despite subsequent positive information
older adults are more prone to this bias
Social knowledge
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
What is social knowledge dependent on?
strength of information
extensive past experiences
What are scripts?
how the world works
when they are violated, we have to go into our past experiences to see what happens
source judgments
trying to determine the source of a particular piece of information
Age differences in knowledg accessibility depend on __
the extent to which people rely on these judgments
Older adults have more __ in __ because of __
biases
these judgments
trouble distinguishing between true and false info
__ indicates damage that leads to older adults believing __ in ads or political campaigns
neuroimaging research
misleading info
The older yo get, the more __
challenging it is to figure out the source
What is the processing capacity explanation for age differences in social judgments?
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
Age related changes in processing capaciy might __
Older adults do what?
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
What are causal attributions?
explanations people construct to explain their behavior
There are two: dispositional and situational
Dispositional attributions (internal)
behavioral explanations that reside within the person (blaming yourself for ex)
situational attributions (external)
behavioral explanations that reside outside the person
correspondence bias
relying on dispositional information and ignoring situational info
college students are more prone to this bias
life experience may combat this in middle adults
Personal goals play a major role in doing what?
creating direction in our lives
young adults= achievement
older adults= balance between independence and sharing lives
Selective optomization with compensation (SOC) is an important theoretical model
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
Shifting priorities means goal selection may be __.
perceived differently by older and younger adults
Goal selection requires what?
that we thoughtfully choose where to invest resources
personal control
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
One's sense of control depends on __ is being assessed
which domain, such as intelligence or health
Higher perceived control is connected with better __, __, and __
relationships, health, and cognitive functioning
Brandtstadter's three interdepenent processes
assimilative activities
accommoations
immunizing mechanisms
asimilative activities
used when one must prevent losses
important to self-esteem
ex: memory aids; you're making activities doable again
accommoations
involve readjusting one's goals an aspirations
lessons negative self-evaluations
ex: time increase in running--shift target time
immunizing mechanisms
alter the effects of self-discrepant information
look for alternative explanations or evidence for failures (ex: memory loss; blaming the environment for your losses
Heckhausen and Schulz's view
primary and secondary control
primary 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
secondary control
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
Primary conrol summary
more adaptive to indiviaul
SEcondary control
minimize losses
collaborative cognition
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
storytelling
the social context can serve a facilitative function in older adults' memory performance
in real world learning situations, older adults perform better
Because of storytelling, it is important to do what?
limit our explanations of social cognitive change simply to cognitive processing variables, but also include social factors