Age Bias In Young James

The smallest pieces of information can shape our impression formation, generating implicit stereotypes and biases against another person. Age is one of these factors that can lead to an unconscious bias towards an individual. We hypothesized that students’ impressions of the young James and the old James would vary due to the difference in their ages, and that students would form a better impression of young James. Our participants included 203 University of Pittsburgh Research Methods students, 143 of them being females. Participants were asked to read a paragraph, and then rate the man described based on traits such as intelligence, likability, employability. Additionally, the participants were asked if they would recommend them as a roommate. The paragraphs were identical, the only thing changed between participants was the age of James, either 21 or 51. We found that young James was rated higher than old James on likability, intelligence, and employability. Young James was also more likely to be recommended as a roommate than old James was. Both of these results upheld our hypotheses. Our findings indicate that there is indeed age bias present …show more content…
Langer, Taylor, Fiske and Chanowitz (1976) conducted studies to explain why individuals avoid others who are different. Langer et al. found that disabled veterans felt dehumanized when being blatantly stared at by nonhandicapped individuals. The study showed that people from the out-group make people from the in-group uneasy, and the conflict between the two leads to negative discrimination. These negative feelings towards the elderly, while viewing them as “different”, can lower their self-esteem and affect their behavior. It was also hypothesized that people avoid the “different” other due to the fear they will end up like them. Maybe younger individuals are holding this negative age bias towards the elderly because they’re afraid of growing