Hess, Auman,
Colcombe, & Rahhal, 2003
In this experiment, older
(average age = 70.8 years, range = 62-84) and younger
(19.3, 18-30) adults completed an questionnaire
assessing the degree that they valued their memory
ability. Individuals then read newspaper-type
reports that either reinforced the inevitability of
memory decrements with old age (e.g. "to maintain
adequate levels of functioning, older adults may have to
increasingly depend upon the help of memory tools as
well as friends and family") or negated the
inevitability of stereotypical decrements (e.g., "these
findings suggest that the degree of memory loss is to a
certain extent under control of the environment and the
individual"). Results indicated that
older adults
who received the stereotype-consistent information
performed worse on a recall task than those who received
either stereotype-inconsistent or no information. These
effects were moderated by the degree to which
participants valued their memory ability. The more
they valued their memory, the greater the disruptive
effect of the stereotype-consistent information on
actual memory performance. These results show with an
older population that stereotype threat effects are more
pronounced to the degree that people value the domain in
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