Ageism is Widespread in Western Societies

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The aging of society has not significantly changed our perceptions of the elderly. Ageism is widespread in Western societies (Dionigi, et al, 2011). Older adults are seen as boring, grumpy irritable, weak, debilitated, mournful, and most significantly cognitively. These stereotypes which are negative can be allowed by the aged themselves negative self-stereotyping (Dionigi, et al, 2011) and are as well found among specialized caregivers (e.g., Cowan, Fitzpatrick, Roberts, & While,2004). The image in relation to which older adults are more ineffectual than younger adults is predominantly dominant. Nevertheless, in a variety of domains, older adults are inclined to have analogous performances and at times even do better than younger people (Coudin & Alexopoulos, 2010). For instance, almost 40 percent of the Canada’s working judges have attained senior status plus could retire. However, these senior judges are critical to the justice system and, dealing with decreased caseloads, perform almost 20 percent of the judiciary's work (Coudin & Alexopoulos, 2010). This information is as well consistent with the research on cognitive aging, which demonstrates that reasoning regarding complex matters pertinent to every day life—what is called wisdom by some–shows no decline with age ( Nonetheless, these stereotypes possess an influential power as well as to impact older adult’s general functioning. the following essay describes the effects of stereotypes on the older adult/person and how these stereotypes may limit access to jobs, medical care or a person’s autonomy

In the age stereotype context, there are two kinds of stereotype, which is negative stereotype and positive stereotype. Nevertheless, the old generations are frequently being ...

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...rontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 66(5), 547-556.

Kotter-Grühn, D., & Hess, T. M. (2012). The impact of age stereotypes on self-perceptions of aging across the adult lifespan. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 67(5), 563-571.

Marques, S., Lima, M. L., Abrams, D., & Swift, H. (2014). Will to live in older people's medical decisions: immediate and delayed effects of aging stereotypes. Journal of Applied Social Psychology.

North, M. S., & Fiske, S. T. (2012). An inconvenienced youth? Ageism and its potential intergenerational roots. Psychological bulletin, 138(5), 982.

Sindi, S., Juster, R. P., Wan, N., Nair, N. P. V., Ying Kin, N., & Lupien, S. J. (2012). Depressive symptoms, cortisol, and cognition during human aging: The role of negative aging perceptions. Stress, 15(2), 130-137.

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