This Old Stereotype: The Pervasiveness and Persistence of the Elderly Stereotype

People often worry about loss of cognitive abilities as they age, even in the absence of ADRD.

“Even in the absence of ADRD, people often worry about loss of cognitive abilities as they age, likely due to inevitable age-related cognitive decline that occur in adulthood (Park, O’Connell, & Thomson, 2003) and the strong negative biases generally associated with older adults (Cuddy, Norton, & Fiske, 2005).”

This worry is likely due to inevitable age-related cognitive decline and strong negative biases associated with older adults.

“Even in the absence of ADRD, people often worry about loss of cognitive abilities as they age, likely due to inevitable age-related cognitive decline that occur in adulthood (Park, O’Connell, & Thomson, 2003) and the strong negative biases generally associated with older adults (Cuddy, Norton, & Fiske, 2005).”

Most negative attitudes toward aging relate to older adults' cognitive abilities, and these attitudes can occur without any indication of cognitive decline.

“Furthermore, most of the negative attitudes towards aging are related to cognitive abilities of older adults, and these negative attitudes can occur even without any indication of cognitive decline (Cuddy et al., 2005; Nosek et al., 2002; Whitbourne & Seed, 2002), and age is, indeed, the biggest risk factor for dementia (Chen, Lin, & Chen, 2009).”

Dementia-related anxiety is likely to be exacerbated by strong implicit negative biases against older adults, culturally embedded age-related stereotypes, and dementia-related stigma.

“Therefore, based on the existence of strong implicit negative biases against older adults observable in adults of all ages (Nosek et al., 2002), culturally embedded age-related stereotypes (Cuddy et al., 2005), and dementia-related stigma (Moniz-Cook & Manthorpe, 2009; Prince, Bryce, & Ferri, 2011), DRA is likely to be exacerbated.”

Young adults tend to describe older adults as high in warmth but low in competence.

“This result aligns with literature revealing young adults’ tendency to describe older adults as high in warmth but low in competence (Cuddy & Fiske, 2002; Cuddy et al., 2009; Cuddy et al., 2005; Fiske et al., 1999)”

Many people hold strong negative attitudes toward older adults, especially regarding their memory ability.

“Previous studies have revealed that many people hold strong negative attitudes toward older adults, especially in regards to their memory ability (Cuddy et al., 2005; Nosek et al., 2002; Whitbourne & Seed, 2002)”

The dominant stereotype of elderly people is that they are high in warmth, but low in competence.

“The dominant stereotype of elderly people is that they are high in warmth, but low in competence, as demonstrated in multiple studies across different cultures (e.g., Cuddy & Fiske, 2002;Cuddy, Norton, & Fiske, 2005).”