Ageism: Lack of Implicit Stereotypes Across Adulthood

Abstract

This study expanded the sample populations which have been tested for ageism. An encoding task and an unexpected recall task measured ageism within these populations: 18-25 years, 25-54 years, and 55+ years. Eighty-seven participants were tested. There was no significant difference between mean percent of words, positive or negative, recalled from the old encoding task and words, positive or negative recalled from the young encoding task in the separate age categories. This supports research showing ageism does not exist in the current population. Overall, mean percent of positive words recalled was significantly higher than negative words recalled. Mean percent of positive words recalled in the self referent encoding task was significantly higher than negative self referent. Further research exploring alternative methodologies for testing implicit ageism in these populations is recommended.