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Attitude, Stereotypes and Prejudice Week 7

Gero520: Life Span

Developmental Psychology

Fall 2021

Dr Paul Nash CPsychol, AFBPsS, FHEA Office: GERO 231E

Office Hours: Weds 13.00-16.00 (OR AGREED APPOINTMENT)

Email: [email protected]

Meki Singleton Email: [email protected]

What were the key points from last time?

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 Creativity  Wisdom  Expertise  Specialised task performance  Age trends  Brain structure and function  How brain function may affect creativity

The session in brief

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 Attitudes, components and subsets  Functions of attitude  How to measure  Prejudice  Stereotyping  Stereotype threat  Ageism  Stereotyping and personality  Consequences  Your attitudes

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https://www.ted.com/talks/ashton_applewhite_let_s_end_ageism#t-675641

Recapping attitudes (Week 2)

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What do YOU understand by the word ‘attitude’?

An attitude may be defined as an internal affective orientation explaining an individual’s action (Reber, 1995)

 Cognitive Affective  Conative  Evaluative

Summation (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1974) Averaged (Anderson, 1971)

Models of attitude formation – refresher (Week 2)

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Summation: “...an attitude is the sum of evaluations associated with salient outcomes of observed behaviours .” (Betsch, Kaufmann, Lindow, Plessner, & Hoffman, 2006)

Averaged: “... attitude is formed from the average evaluations of the attributes associated with an attitude object.” (Nash, Stuart-Hamilton & Mayer, 2011)

Value-Account Model: (Betsch, Plessner and Schallies, 2004)

 Explicit – Averaged  Implicit – Summation The model is applicable in any situation where the stimulus has the potential to evoke an affective reaction

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tilmann_Betsch/publication/265744379_1_The_value- account_model_of_attitude_formation/links/54d09c750cf20323c217f817/1-The-value-account-model-of-attitude-formation.pdf.

AIR (Nash & Carney, 2020)

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Acquisition

Internalisation

Reinforcement

Who wants to run through a specific attitude example?

Two subsets – revisited (week 2)

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Implicit vs Explicit

Explicit: ‘consciously expressed actions, thoughts or feelings under the performer’s control’

Implicit: ‘introspectively unidentified (or inaccurately identified) traces of past experience that mediate favourable or unfavourable feeling, thought or action toward social objects’

(Greenwald and Banaji, 1995)

Comparing attitudes (Nash & Carney, 2020)

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Key Components  Consciousness  Affective evaluations (or lack)  Stimulus awareness  Self-concept monitoring  Situation  Salience  Behavioural feedback

Comparisons - confirmed

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Implicit  Stable  Enduring  Predict spontaneous

behaviour

Explicit  Less enduring  More malleable  Predict planned behaviour

Measurement tools

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When we control our perception

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Self-Presentational Bias Presenting self in the best possible light

High Self-Monitor High levels of self awareness and control over the characteristics observed by others

Authority Principle Act in a way that may be incongruent to beliefs AND societal norms but instead in they way they perceive an authority figure desires

Functions of attitude

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Knowledge

Ego-defensive

Adaptive / Adjustment

Value / Ego-expressive

Adaptive /. Adjustment

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 If a person holds and/or expresses socially acceptable attitudes, other people will reward them with approval and social acceptance.

 For example, when people flatter their bosses or instructors (and believe it) or keep silent if they think an attitude is unpopular. Again, expression can be nonverbal [think politician kissing baby].

 Attitudes then, are to do with being apart of a social group and the adaptive functions helps us fit in with a social group. People seek out others who share their attitudes, and develop similar attitudes to those they like.

Ego defensive

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 The ego-defensive function refers to holding attitudes that protect our self-esteem or that justify actions that make us feel guilty. For example, one way children might defend themselves against the feelings of humiliation they have experienced in P.E. lessons is to adopt a strongly negative attitude to all sports.

 People whose pride have suffered following a defeat in sport might similarly adopt a defensive attitude: “I’m not bothered, I’m sick of rugby anyway…”. This function has psychiatric overtones. Positive attitudes towards ourselves, for example, have a protective function (i.e. an ego-defensive role) in helping us reserve our self-image.

 The basic idea behind the functional approach is that attitudes help a person to mediate between their own inner needs (expression, defence) and the outside world (adaptive and knowledge).

Value / Ego expressive

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 The attitudes we express (1) help communicate who we are and (2) may make us feel good because we have asserted our identity. Self-expression of attitudes can be non-verbal too: think bumper sticker, cap, or T-shirt slogan.

 Therefore, our attitudes are part of our identify, and help us to be aware through the expression of our feelings, beliefs and values.

Knowledge

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 Attitudes provide meaning (knowledge) for life. The knowledge function refers to our need for a world which is consistent and relatively stable.

 This allows us to predict what is likely to happen, and so gives us a sense of control. Attitudes can help us organize and structure our experience.

 Knowing a person’s attitude helps us predict their behavior. For example, knowing that a person is religious we can predict they will go to Church.

Prejudice - reviewed

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Pre-judging a particular object (person, place or thing) by one or more of its characteristics, implying the arrival at a judgement before sufficient evidence has been gathered

Similar 4 components to attitude which are....  Cognitive Affective  Evaluative  Conative

Who are we prejudice against?  SIT  Group Formation  Categorisation

Social Categorisation - overview

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Is this something unique to prejudice or integral to human existence? - Cognitive Load?

Two Conditions:  Grouping must involve rules resulting in membership and non-membership Artificial exaggeration of inter-group differences - Outgroup differentiation and Ingroup homogeneity

Simply belonging to a group is enough to instigate prejudice

 Maximising differences even those arbitrary ones  In-Group helping  70% compliance

However.....Conative and affective are more important in extreme prejudice

What about stereotypes?

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Stereotypes are the labour saving devices we all use in our daily lives to help us comprehend the huge amount of stimuli we receive and assist in reducing the cognitive load. We create cognitive schema and heuristics (rules of thumb) to ‘chunk’ information units together, creating rules about values and attributes associated to different objects, situations and people. (Nash, 2020)

Confirmatory bias Convince ourselves that they are accurate

Stereotyping

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Stereotypes are the schemas developed to maximise intergroup differences and facilitate prejudice

What ageing stereotypes are there?

Are stereotypes rooted in fact?

How are they perpetuated?

 Used as a platform from which to seek additional information (confirmatory)  New information can be ‘tainted’ by stereotypes depending on salience

 Ultimate Attribution Error ingroup members (1) attribute negative outgroup behavior to dispositional causes (more than they would for identical ingroup behavior), and (2) attribute positive outgroup behavior to one or more of the following causes: (a) a fluke or exceptional case, (b) luck or special advantage, (c) high motivation and effort, and (d) situational factors.

Stereotype threat

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Stereotype threat is a situational predicament in which people are or feel themselves to be at risk of conforming to negative stereotypes about their social group.

Executive-control interference Stereotype threat decreases the availability of executive control resources and should impair working memory performance

Regulatory-fit Stereotype threat induces a prevention focus which should impair performance when gains are emphasized but improve performance when losses are emphasized

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6d65/601d9ac326a291f70cfbe0ec9846cc106164.pdf

Barber & Mather, 2013

Executive-Control interference

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 Stereotype threat induces physiological stress and creates negative mood states that people try to suppress

 Stereotype threat increases performance monitoring because of prevention focus, so fewer executive control resources

 Young people with high working memory capacity less affected by stereotype threat because they have enough capacity to perform the task

Ageism looks like…

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Heuristics

Cognitive (stereotypes)

De-valuing contributions

Pigeon-holing

Across sectorsGerontophobia

Conative (action)

Homogonous pathologisation

Accepted

What is Ageism?

We use ageism…

25 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0e9guhV35o

What are the intended and unintended consequences here?

Is it unique?

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How does ageism differ from other forms of prejudice?

Prevalence

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What ‘isms’ exist? How widespread are they?

Ageism more prevalent than sexism OR racism

- Why is it more socially acceptable? - Implicit and Explicit Reinforcement

Acquisition and Reinforcement

Media: (Zebrowitz & Montepare, 2000)

Societal Bias: (Jelenec & Steffens, 2002)

Strengthening Stereotypes: (Levy & Banaji, 2002)

Effects of ageism (Week 2)

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Ageism is different to EVERY other form of discrimination.....How?!....

Health Effects: Cardiovascular

Psychological Effects: Depression Reduced self-efficacy Cognitive impairment Reduced self-esteem Internalised / self concept

Discrimination (e.g. Workplace): Reduced productivity Skill loss Law suits NO EVIDENTIARY SUPPORT

Consequences of ageism…

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Lesser Care: (Gatz & Pearson, 1988)

Poor Treatment: (Duerson, Thomas, Chang & Stevens, 1992)

Refusal to Treat: (Filipp & Schmitt, 1995)

Medical Students & Practicioners: (Duerson, Thomas, Chang & Stevens, 1992)

Do stereotypes drive personality?

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 People may exaggerate negative traits and create expectancies that then lead to perceptions that reinforce the exaggeration

 Perceptions of older adults’ competence varies by country  Perceptions arise from social roles played by particular groups  Men more in leadership positions, therefore men are leaders  Competence is associated with employment  Hypothesis that people from countries where older people are in paid or volunteer work will

perceive them as more competent than people from countries where older people aren’t  Older people in some countries may be more cognitively competent than those in other

countries based on social and educational context  More older women in some countries and women generally perceived as less competent than

men

(Bowen & Skirbekk, 2013)

Applied implications… All about Becca Levy

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 Levy et al. (2002) The study tracked 660 people over the age of 50 in a longitudinal design Those holding more positive self-perceptions about ageing and the ageing process lived seven and a half years longer on average than those in the sample who expressed negative self-perceptions on ageing Internalised ageism has been shown to increase levels of cardiovascular stress as well as reducing levels of self- efficacy (Levy et al., 2002) Significantly decreasing activity, productivity and ability known as the stereotype embodiment theory (Levy, 2009).

Some physiological declines such as dementia are widely reported in the media in a way which suggests that every older person either is, or is sure to become demented. This influence is one of the reasons why the stereotype exists that all older adults will have dementia. Dementia is not normal ageing, but the idea of becoming demented has begun to reflect assumptions of normal ageing. This becomes ingrained in the social mindset and become self- fulfilling prophesies where older people are expected to become socially isolated, lonely, lack physical ability, live with cognitive decline and ultimately become a fiscal burden on family and state alike (Levy, 2009).

The physiological and psychological impacts of ageism are not minor, nor are they resigned to lesser developed countries or lower socio-economic groups.

Impact of education and experience / exposure

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Study 1 A Longitudinal Cohort Study with Nursing and Psychology Undergraduate Students

Study 2 A Cross-sectional Study Assessing Attitudes Held by Hospital Nurses working in A&E and Geriatric Medicine

Study 3 A Cross-sectional Study Assessing the Effects of Higher Level Education on Implicit and Explicit Attitudes Towards Older People

Study 4 A Cross-sectional Study Assessing the Levels of Implicit and Explicit Ageism Held by Older People

(Nash, Stuart-Hamilton & Mayer, 2011)

Meta-analysis key findings

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 Pervasive Implicit Ageism

 Societally Accepted and Perpetuated

 Internalised Ageism

 Reduction Interventions

Nursing in focus (Nash, 2014)

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The current study examined both explicit and implicit attitudes towards ageing in four groups: nurses with high exposure to older patients; nurses with exposure to a broader patient age range; nursing students at the start of training nursing students at the end of training.

There were significant differences between implicit and explicit measures There were no significant differences in explicit attitudes Implicit attitudes were significantly less negative in the student groups relative to the practicing nurses groups.

Worst Attitudes…

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COVID-19

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Italian Government in Turin created a policy to refuse intensive treatment against COVID-19 for those over 80 years One doctor said: "[Who lives and who dies] is decided by age and by the [patient's] health conditions. This is how it is in a war.“ This policy has yet to be enacted (as of March 24th 2020)

Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick called on people over 70 to sacrifice themselves for the good of the economy and future generations. - Intergenerational Conflict - Guilt for older people - Legitimizing discrimination and marginalizing

Cumulative disadvantage

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Age

HIV Stigma

Race / Ethnicity

SexualitySex / Gender

 They may all intersect

 A few may intersect

 They may be experienced individually

Although discussing mainly ageism, the concepts remain true and the consequences remain the same

How far does it spread?

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 57 countries that took part in the World Values Survey  Multilevel Latent Class Analysis was performed to

identify distinct classes of individuals and countries.  Individuals were classified as having high, moderate or

low-ageist attitudes  Countries were classified as being highly, moderate or

low-ageist by aggregating individual responses.  Individual level factors (age, sex, education, wealth)  Contextual level factors (healthy life expectancy,

population health status, proportion of population aged over 60 years)

Highlight Results:

83,034 participants included: 44% Low Ageism 32% Medium Ageism 24% High Ageism

From the 57 countries included: 34 were classified as moderate or highly ageist.

 The likelihood of an individual or a country being ageist were significantly reduced by increases in healthy life expectancy and in the proportion of older people.

 Younger age, being male, lower education- were significantly associated with increased probability of an individual having highly ageist attitudes.

 One in every two people included in this study had moderate or highly ageist attitudes, which is an estimated 2.2. billion people across the 57 countries of the sample



Ageism by Country

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Country and individual correlates

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3.99 12.94

56.48

19.42

57.39

27.34

76.59

29.67

16.18

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Less ageist countries Moderately ageist countries

High ageist countries

Individuals with low ageist attitude

Individuals with moderate ageist attitude

Individuals with high ageist attitude

Factors reducing ageism

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Predictors Comparison: High-ageist countries vs. low-ageist countries

Comparison: Moderate-ageist countries vs. low-ageist countries

Model 1a Model 2b Model 1a Model 2 b

Contextual factors Odds ratio (95% CI) Odds ratio (95% CI) Odds ratio (95% CI) Odds ratio (95% CI) Healthy life expectancy 0.55(0.42-0.73) ** 0.73(0.71-0.74) ** 0.70(0.54-0.90) ** 0.91(0.90-0.92) ** Proportion of older people 0.72(0.71-0.73) ** 0.68(0.67-0.69) ** 0.60(0.59-0.61) ** 0.74(0.73-0.75) ** Population health status (Self- reported)

0.97(0.971-0.972) ** 1.0 (0.80-1.02) 0.94(0.93-0.95) ** 1.0(0.9-1.03)

Income inequality 0.97(0.88-1.05) - 0.97(0.89- 1.04) -

 What are the potential implications for this?

Increase spending on care of older people to make them healthier Increase societal health literacy Invest in preventative rather than treatment based care

Current situation indicates: Large scale ageism and associated health consequences for older people and future cohorts

Challenging stereotypes

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Counter-stereotypical images - Sporadic or Concentrated - Nature of the attitude to change

Inter-generational contact - Visible support from a shared ‘authority’ - Quality and quantity - Neutral meeting where both equal - Co-operation and desire

Dissonance between implicit and explicit changes

Changing stereotypes

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In 2016, the campaign to combat ageism was launched by the World Health Assembly (part of the WHO) in an attempt to turn the tide on ageism.

They aimed to develop a global coalition, harnessing a free communication and discourse to improve data working and make structural changes in policy delivery.

 To challenge the overwhelming negative associations with age, there needs to be an intergenerational approach and a desire from all parties to engage.

 Education needs to change in terms of both formal information about ageing but a change in the way media portray ageing to more accurately reflect what it is to be an older person.

 Policy makers, employers and the public need to engage with counter-stereotyped images of older people.

 This is not to say extreme counter stereotypes. The same as when forming stereotypes, the counter- stereotypical imagery need to be plausible and possible otherwise they will be dismissed and not salient enough to challenge the existing heuristic.

The Nash perspective

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So what does ageism mean in the face of increasing longevity? Are we destined to feel worse and spend more scarce health resource combatting a silent but deadly form of prejudice that is totally preventable? It would seem so. With the growing tide of ageism (especially implicit) and the seemingly tacit understanding and acceptance socially, this pernicious condition is set to make more of an impact as the number of older people grow. Does this have to be the case, though? Totally not! A step change in public opinion is required. A realistic view of ageing and ‘prospective self-ageing’ is needed to shake the acceptance and challenge the stagnant norms. The cultural capital that older people have to offer is dependent on societies’ ability and willingness to cash in on it. The population is ageing, the quality of this ageing is largely dependent on the acceptance and how different countries challenge these myths and embrace ageing as a positive and contributory part of the life course

So what does this mean for your attitudes?

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https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html

Take a test and see how you fair. Do the age IAT and then maybe try a couple of the others. Discuss on blackboard how you found the test and what your reflections are on the IAT

A final thought

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQwJNYYlkQA

Blackboard discussions

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What is the WHO initiative on Ageism?

What are the global trends for different countries / cultures?

What are the global implications for ageism?

What can be done to tackle ageism?

Key points…

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Next time…

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Week 8 10/14/2021

FALL RECESS

Week 9 10/21/2021

Personality Health literacy

Folder of readings on BB Week 7 Discussion Synopsis Research Article