Two studies
examined the effects of elderly stereotype activation on
memory performance. In Experiment 1, men and women 60
years of age and older (average age = 73) volunteered
for a study on memory improvement. All participants
completed an exercise that involved the subliminal
presentation of stimuli to activate either negative
(e.g., decline, dependent) or positive (e.g., wise,
enlightened) stereotypes of the elderly. Individuals then were randomly assigned to receive an
explicit external attribution for success in the
upcoming memory task (that light exposure will help
their memory), an explicit internal attribution for
success (that they were in a placebo condition so their
memory success will be due to their effort) or no
feedback. Results showed that memory performance
varied as a function of subliminal presentation of
age-related stereotypes but not as a function of
explicit attributions. When negative stereotypes
were made accessible, even without participants'
conscious awareness, memory performance generally
suffered. Memory improved with unconscious
exposure to positive aging stereotypes. In Experiment 2,
men and women between 18-35 years of age (average = 26)
generally showed few effects of subliminal exposure to
the elderly stereotypes, with the exception of some
increased memory performance in the negative stereotype
condition. These studies suggest that even
unconscious exposure to group stereotypes can introduce
stereotype threat and reduced performance in individuals
who identify with the group.
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