Ageism: The Categorization Of The Old Age

“If I can buy enough pills, cream, and hair, I can avoid becoming old” (Esposito, 1987). Western cultures are champions of stigmatizing the complex, delicate, remarkable process that is aging. Generally, people rely on physical cues to categorize each other in races, genders, and ages. What comes to mind immediately when the word “old” or “elderly” comes about? Quick identifiers like white hair, wrinkles, and slow-moving, are always associated with the elderly. Simply, the labels that are given i.e. elderly, old people, seniors, and senior citizens contribute to the categorization of this group of people. Like prejudice or discrimination, “ageism” refers to the adverse attitudes, stereotypes, and behaviors focused toward older adults based

The main reaction is anxiety; it is believed that elders remind others of what they will exist as, wrinkles, gray hair, and all. People do not want to face the reality of fading beauty, weaker joints, and certainly not the closeness of death. One must ask, “How do these feelings about negative stereotypes affect the elderly themselves?” Several analyses have shown that implied grooming of harmful age stereotypes can alter physical and cognitive functioning. For example, a study found stereotype related increases in blood pressure, skin conductance, and moodiness or nervousness among a sample of middle-aged and older men. A key finding from this study was that the fear of being perceived as sick could dissuade people from seeking medical help (Auman,

Levy, Hausdorff, Hencke, and Wei (2000) found that subjecting older adults to negative age stereotypes at a subconscious level led to an increased cardiovascular response to the stress of verbal and mathematical tests, compared to that of older adults exposed to positive stereotypes about aging. There have also been a plethora of experiments involving memory tests, recall tasks, agility, and reaction time, linking their results directly to stereotype primers. Not only do stereotypes that others inflict have adverse effects on the elderly, but so do self-stereotypes. In this case, the negative feelings associated with aging may cause older adults to “give up,” distancing themselves from tasks or activities they feel they are not fit to complete any longer, which has undesirable impacts on overall health. Most procedures or assistance that range from prolonging one’s life to aiding hearing loss are often dismissed by older adults, because they believe these ailments are just another aspect of getting