According to …. A stereotype is a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a group or category of people. It is a conventional image of something.
Stereotyping of aging, especially in Western cultures, is primarily negative. It depicts older life as that of slowness, loneliness, ill health and depression. The stereotypes surrounding old age are not only influenced by media, but also by psychologist’s fallacy. Psychologists fallacy is the making assumptions of another person’ state of mind, based on one’s own perspectives and experiences. Ageism is one of the most prevalent forms of discrimination in United Kingdom and the United States of America (Abram et al.. 2011a). Ageism restricts employment opportunities and reduces
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26). This stereotype is evidenced by the decline of health brings about depression, and thus a negative attitude towards aging (Aging Myth and Reality, 2002, p. 26). It is however important to note that there is a U shaped relationship between age and being happy (Lelkes, 2008, p. 1). A research by scholars from Stanford University in 2014 shows that emotional well-being advances until the 70s, when it levels off. Centenarians show general great levels of well-being (Anderson, 2016).
Another stereotype is that aging leads to weakening of creativity. (Aging Myth and Reality, 2002, p. 18). The evidence that supports this stereotype is that, as people advance in age, their brains go through structural changes. Certain regions, including the prefrontal cortex, shrink and the neurons that carry information become less effective at carrying information. Consequently, reasoning weakens, thus leading to hampering of creativity. (Aging Myth and Reality, 2002, p. 18). Dean Keith Simonton, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, points out that for areas of expertise that require accumulated knowledge, creative peaks typically occur at an older age. Philosophers and historians, for example, mostly reach their peak at older age. An example is Grand ma Moses, whose art wok reached its prime at 80 years. Another example is
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Quite often, treatable diseases in old people are not covered in properly treated because they are dismissed as being normal consequences of aging. Old age, does not necessarily cause pain, and only in case of very advanced ages, to do we find lack of functioning of some body parts. A number of diseases that old people have can be prevented by addressing the misconceptions that we have towards ageing.
Older women are not seen to be of as much worth as young women. People often associate the value of a woman with youth, beauty and the ability to bear children. Older woman often are care givers to their children, grandchildren, neighbors etc. This important role is often overlooked. In many communities, women are the care givers of the family. A woman is likely to take care of more than one generation. In sub-Saharan Africa for example, 20% of women aged 60 years and beyond are primary care
Ageing is something that everyone will eventually experience if they are fortunate to live a long life. The process of ageing comes with various negative and positive outlooks. In western culture, ageing for both genders is particularly condemned. In the media in particular, the process of ageing for men and women vary greatly. Where, women are condemned for ageing more than men are. Media greatly highlights on the stereotypical notion of ageing especially in the aspect of portraying men and women and their social roles through advertisement. I will be discussing
Stereotyping; A widely a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.
are old.” Individuals should have some understanding of the of what the term ageism but maybe
Aging is universal and it is a process that everyone has to go through. The only difference is that everyone goes through this process at their own pace influenced by factors that will be discussed later on in this paper. When we think about factors that have an influence on older adults and how their life may be affected, we must consider the different social institutions while analyzing influences from social factors, cultural factors, and personal values. Abuse to older adults, stereotyping and informal care and technological advancements that affect older adults are the three topics that will be discussed in this reflection. Furthermore, will connect the three topics I have chosen to the knowledge that I have gained from my interaction
It is difficult at best to think positively when older people are viewed as “incompetent, boring, inactive, dependent, unproductive, weak, unhealthy, passive, ugly, dull, and sad” (Gething, 1999, p. 2). Essentially, a stereotype as such asphyxiates the wind from your sail early in one’s journey into old age. Then again, if the finish line is one of oppression, marginalization, and disempowerment, it’s a race best lost (Ranzijn, 2002). The most poignant negative affiliated with aging unquestionably centers on the end of life concerns. Although, our hope is for a peaceful demise there exists a chance of tremendous pain and suffering. The latter remains my biggest fear, which in and of itself sheds a negative light on aging. Subsequently, I turned to the article, Positive Psychology and Productive Aging in hopes it would provide
As we grow old we learn numerous different things. Laura Carstensen, a professor of psychology at Stanford University published a study where she showed older people tend to be happier. In her TED presentation titled “Older People Are Happier”, Carstensen shows research that demonstrates that as people get older they become happier, more content, and have a more positive outlook on the world. Carstensen also mentions in her presentation that in her experiment she showed some happy and distressing photos to young and older volunteers. The brains of older subjects reacted much more strongly to positive photos and conveniently were unable to remember having seen some of the distressing pictures (Carstensen 2011). Carstensen mentions as we grow older our brains tend to keep good-memories and ignore bad ones.
Stereotype is a sweeping statement standardized image about a person or group with little or no evidence. The primary purpose is to hurt one’s feelings or to attack one’s character. Have you ever stereotyped someone or felt like you were being stereotyped against? How did being stereotyped affect you, or how did it make you feel once you got to know the person or persons? All kind of people make up our society. Within society, there are a massive amount of groups, most of which have been stereotyped in one way or another. We develop stereotypes when we are reluctant or incapable to obtain all information needed to make fair judgments about people or situations. In the absence of the unknown statistics, stereotyping allow us to “bridge the gaps.” Four of many different groups of people are the prime sources of stereotypes in our society are politicians, tattooed persons, feminists and senior citizens. If the thought of these groups of people mentioned directed some sort of negative icon within you then you are a protagonist of stereotype.
Stereotypes affect the day to day living of the elderly, whether it is through job attainment and sustainability, access and use of healthcare, and overall personal autonomy. Due to the current aging population the government of Canada has eliminated the mandatory retirement age and is looking to raise the retirement age (Minichiello, Browne, & Kendig, 2000), from 65 to at least 70, to ensure financial stability for all in the long term (Novac et al., 2014). From the elimination of a mandatory retirement age the older workers have been subject to experience discrimination and stereotypes due to the ability to work for longer periods. Currently for every five working age people (15yrs-64yrs) there is one aged worker (65+yrs) and it is predicted that by 2050 one in less than three (estimated 2.5) will be an aged worker (Government of Canada, 2012). Positive stereotypes include a great knowledge base and the ability to perform certain tasks through experience (Greenlees, Webb, Hall, & Manley, 2007). Negative stereotypes include being frail and in poor physical shape to perform laborious tasks leading to a lack of produ...
“What is a stereotype? Stereotypes are qualities assigned to groups of people related to their race, nationality and sexual orientation, to name a few. Because they generalize groups of people in manners that lead to discrimination and ignore the diversity within groups, stereotypes should be avoided” (“What Is a Stereotype”). Both positive and negative stereotypes exist, but both are equally dangerous. All stereotypes, whether positive or negative, limit whatever group of people it is assigned to to a certain set of traits, and let’s face it, a human being’s personality is far too complex to be limited to a mere set of three or four traits. A stereotype creates a preconceived notion of how an individual belonging to a certain group should look, act, dress, and even speak. A prime example of this would be the very recent happenings in the case of Trayvon Martin. Trayvon Martin was a seventeen year old African-American male, profiled as a criminal.
The term “ageism” is not easily understood by most of the population because of its acceptance as normal behavior due to the ingrained attitudes that most people develop in their youth, but health care workers must fully embrace the term within their profession in order to avoid becoming a contributor to the historical prevalence of prejudices and discrimination. The term ageism is defined by Klein and Liu (2010) as “the discrimination of individuals based solely on age” (p. 334). “Ageism is a social construct that is internalized in the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of individuals” (Klein & Liu, 2010, p. 334). Robert Butler, a well-known gerontologist, coined the term “ageism” citing that the discrimination and prejudice associated with this term is often based on the lack of a person’s experience with older people (Ferrini & Ferrini, 2013, p. 6). Ferrini and Ferrini (2013) refer to the strong influence that cultural beliefs and attitudes as well as a person’s current age influence the perception of aging (p. 6). Everywhere within society there are influences that encourage ageist attitudes such as media conveyances through movies, books, television, greeting cards, magazines and the Internet (Ferrini and Ferrini, 2013, p. 6). These negative connotations related to growing older begin to influence all people at a very young age and therefore impact their attitudes as they make career decisions. This has directly impacted the number of health care providers who specialize in geriatrics as well as the attitudes of those who do provide services for older adults. These false perceptions and negative attitudes are currently impacting the q...
...th professionals, were significantly more cynical toward and distrustful of older adults” (p. 63). The findings in Meisner’s (2012) conveyed that physicians demonstrated attitudes about older patients including feelings of these individuals being “disengaged and unproductive” while assuming that these characteristics applied to all of the older patients regardless of each person’s actual abilities (p. 63). Combing all older adults into one category defined by disability and dysfunction is detrimental to the well-being of each patient. Chronological age is not the determining factor relative to treatment; functional age is a better testament to expected outcomes for a patient. It is imperative that physicians understand what is “normal aging” rather than searching for pathologies based on symptoms that are just part of this aging process. According to Meisner
There are several theories surrounding the aging adult and what successful aging embodies. A common theme of successful aging is one’s wellness. Wellness in relation to health is represented and encompassed by balance among one’s emotional, social, spiritual, physicality, and culture. As demographics begin to change in our country, new and changing definitions of what successful aging means among our society are developed through research and practice of caring for those within the population of older adults.
According to Dictionary.com a stereotype is something conforming to a fixed or general pattern, especially an often oversimplified or biased mental picture held to characterize the typical individual of a group (dictionary.com).
In today’s society, what was once said to be true and taken as fact regarding older people is no longer the whole story. As Laslett states, “At all times before the middle of the twentieth century and all over the globe the greater part of human life potential has been wasted, by people dying before their allotted time was up.” (1989a), and to a great extent a lot
Stereotype ? a conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image about groups of people on the basis of limited information. ?Television, books, comic strips, and movies are all abundant sources of stereotyped characters?2. Sometimes what we see on a certain television show, hear from someone or read about in a particular article, we form a ...