Ageism: Prejudice Against Our Feared Future Self

1 Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 61, No. 2, 2005, pp. 207--221 Ageism: Prejudice Against Our Feared Future SelfTodd D. NelsonCalifornia State University-StanislausFordecades, researchers have discovered much about how humans automati-cally categorize others in social perception. Some categorizations race, gen-der, and age are so automatic that they are termed primitive categories. Aswe categorize, we often develop stereotypes about the categories. Researchersknow much about racism and sexism, but comparatively little about prejudicingand stereotyping based on age. The articles in this issue highlight the currentempirical and theoretical work by researchers in gerontology, psychology, com-munication, and related fields on understanding the origins and consequences ofstereotyping and prejudicing Against older adults. With the aging baby boomerdemographic, it is especially timely for researchers to work to understand howsociety can shed its institutionalized ageism and promote respect for down the street, you glance at people, which triggers an attendingautomatic categorization of each individual along three dimensions: race, gender,and age.

2 This categorization is so well-learned and so fundamental to social per-ception that researchers refer to these dimensions as primitive or automatic categories (Bargh, 1994; Brewer, 1988; Fiske & Neuberg, 1990; Hamilton &Sherman, 1994). Indeed, for decades, researchers have studied extensively theinfluence of this automatic race categorization on impression formation (Dovidio&Gaertner, 1986; Jones, 1997; Schuman, Steeh, Bobo, & Krysan, 1997). The studyof racism has been and continues to be a major focus of research (Nelson, 2002b;Plous, 2002; Schneider, 2004). Similarly, a tremendous number of studies haveinvestigated Prejudice based on gender (Swann, Langlois, & Gilbert, 1999). How-ever, researchers have devoted comparatively little attention to Prejudice basedon age: ageism (Butler, 1969; Nelson, 2002a). As an illustration of this point,consider the results of a PsychINFO search I conducted minutes before writing Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Todd D.

3 Nelson, Department ofPsychology, California State University-Stanislaus, 801 W. Monte Vista Ave., Turlock, CA, 95382[e-mail: of this article are presented earlier elsewhere (Nelson, 2002a, 2002b).207C 2005 The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues208 Nelsonthis article. A search for racism yielded 3,111 documents, while a search for sexism yielded 1,385 documents, and a search for ageism produced only have researchers essentially ignored one of the three critical dimensionsupon which we categorize others in social perception? While a number of factorsmay account for this empirical imbalance, one reason may account for most of thisdisparity. Age Prejudice in this country is one of the most socially-condoned andinstitutionalized forms of Prejudice , such that researchers may tend to overlook itas a phenomenon to be studied (Nelson, 2002a; Palmore, 1999). For example, acornerstone of the birthday greeting card industry is the message that it is unfor-tunate that one is another year older.]

4 While couched in jokes and humor, societyis clearly saying one thing: getting old is bad. A recent survey found that approxi-mately 90 million Americans each year purchase products or undergo proceduresthat hide physical signs of aging (National Consumer s League, 2004). Why? Whydoes society view aging as a negative thing?ABrief History of AgeismThe institutionalization of ageism has its roots in the increasingly negativewaythe United States (and to a lesser degree, other countries, see Ng, 2002for a detailed review) views older adults. Older adults in the United States tendto be marginalized, institutionalized, and stripped of responsibility, power, and,ultimately, their dignity (Nelson, 2002a). It wasn t always thus. In most prehis-toric and agrarian societies, older people were often held in high regard. They werethe teachers. By virtue of their age and greater experience, they were regarded aswise and they were the custodians of the traditions and history of their people.

5 Inbiblical times, if one lived beyond age 50, it was believed he or she was chosenby God for a divine purpose (Branco & Williamson, 1982). However, attitudestoward older people began to shift dramatically with two major developments incivilization. First, the advent of the printing press was responsible for a majorchange in the status of elders (Branco & Williamson, 1982). The culture, tradition,and history of a society or tribe now could be repeated innumerable times, in ex-act detail through books, and the status and power elders once had as the villagehistorians was greatly reduced and, in many cases, second major development in society that led to a shift in attitudes towardthe elderly was the industrial revolution (Stearns, 1986). The industrial revolutiondemanded great mobility in families to go where the jobs were. In light of thisnew pressure to be mobile, the extended family structure (with grandparents in thehousehold) was less adaptive.

6 Older people were not as mobile as younger jobs tended to be oriented toward long, difficult, manual labor, and the jobswere thus more suited to younger, stronger workers. Experience in a position wasnot as valued as the ability to adapt to changes and changing technology. AroundAgeism209this time, great advances in medicine were taking place, extending life expectancysignificantly. Society was not prepared to deal with this new large population ofolder adults. Society began to associate old age with negative qualities, and olderadults were regarded as non-contributing burdens on society (Branco & Williamson,1982). These negative attitudes have persisted in our society, and have in fact, onlyincreased (Nelson, 2002a; Palmore, 1999). Older persons today are treated assecond-class citizens with nothing to offer society and the negative attitudes aboutaging that give rise to ageism tend to manifest themselves in subtle ways in thedaily life of the average older of Ageism in Daily LifePatronizing LanguageParadoxically, people with positive attitudes toward older people often seemto communicate with older people according to negative stereotypes about olderpersons.

7 Two major types of negative communication have been identified by re-searchers:overaccommodationandbaby , youngerindividuals become overly polite, speak louder and slower, exaggerate their into-nation, have a higher pitch, and talk in simple sentences with elders (Giles, Fox,Harwood, & Williams, 1994). This is based on the stereotype that older peoplehave hearing problems, decreasing intellect, and slower cognitive functioning (Kite&Wagner, 2002). Overaccommodation also manifests itself in the downplayingof serious thoughts, concerns, and feelings expressed by older people (Grainger,Atkinson, & Coupland, 1990). In one study (Kemper, 1994), caregivers at a nursinghome were found to speak in simple, short sentences. They repeated their sentencesand spoke slower to older adults. Interestingly, this pattern did not vary as a func-tion of the cognitive state or physical health of the individual.

8 What seemed totrigger this overaccommodating speech style was simply the age of the is, all older persons were treated this way, which suggests a strong influenceof a negative stereotype influencing the behavior of these negative, condescending form of overaccommodation is what istermed baby talk (Caporael, 1981). Baby talk is a simplified speech [with] high pitch and exaggerated intonation (Caporael & Culbertson, 1986).As the term implies, people often use it to talk to babies (termedprimary babytalk)but such intonation is used, also, when talking to pets, inanimate objects,and adults (termedsecondary baby talk). In one of the first experiments on thisphenomenon, Caporael (1981) filtered out the content of secondary baby talk di-rected to adults and had young adults attempt to differentiate it from primary babytalk. Participants were unable to distinguish between the two types of baby talk,which indicates that the only thing that distinguishes secondary baby talk fromprimary baby talk is the content.

9 The exaggerated tone, simplified speech and high210 Nelsonpitch of the talk are virtually identical. How do older people respond to this type oftreatment? The evidence is mixed. Some data (Edwards & Noller, 1993; O Connor&Rigby, 1996) shows that some older people have a positive attitude toward thistalk, and in fact, they feel better about themselves when they receive more frequentbaby talk. Other research shows that older people resent baby talk and negativelyevaluate people who speak that way toward them (Ryan, Hamilton, & See, 1994).Caporeal, Lukaszewski, and Culbertson (1983) found that older people who havelower functional abilities preferred secondary baby talk to other types of speech,because it conveys a soothing, nurturing quality. This is interesting because olderpersons who have higher cognitive and social functioning regard secondary babytalk as disrespectful, condescending, and humiliating (Giles et al.)

10 , 1994). In ad-dition to these features, secondary baby talk is ageist and insulting because itconnotes a dependency relationship ( , the target of the secondary baby talk isdependent on the speaker; Caporael & Culbertson, 1986). The use of this type ofspeech appears to be associated with the stereotype of all older persons as havingdeficits in cognitive abilities, and therefore needing special communication at aslower, simpler level. Cross-cultural research also indicates that both primary andsecondary baby talk appear to be universal, occurring in small preliterate societiesas well as modern industrialized cities (Caporael & Culbertson, 1986).Effects of Pseudopositive Attitudes on Older PeopleAccording to Arluke and Levin (1984), infantilization creates a self-fulfillingprophecy in that older people come to accept and believe that they are no longerindependent, contributing adults (they must assume a passive, dependent role;Butler, Lewis, & Sunderland, 1991).