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RESEARCH ARTICLE |
Yale University
The comments by Hummert (2003)
and Zebrowitz (2003) on "Mind matters: Cognitive and physical effects of aging self-stereotypes" (Levy, 2003) are greatly appreciated. They raise several points that are important for their own sake and also provide me an opportunity to clarify some aspects of the article.
Hummert (2003) insightfully suggests that by using the distinction between "stereotypes as cognitive structures and stereotyping as the process of applying stereotypes," it is easier to think about how aging stereotypes could become aging self-stereotypes and how aging self-stereotypes could be applied to others in one's group, in contrast to oneself. The latter distinction could also take into account the operation of stereotyping on both unconscious and conscious levels; for, individuals may consciously repudiate their old-age identity while unconsciously maintaining it. This dichotomy provides another way of interpreting a study, cited by Hummert (2003), that showed elders perceive their cohort to be more debilitated than themselves (Crockett & Hummert, 1987). The use of social comparison in this way would assist the elderly individual with coping, whereas the need to cope may reflect an unconscious recognition of oneself becoming old.
Regarding the origin of age stereotypes, I agree with Hummert (2003) that "internalization implies that the stereotypes are somehow ‘out there,’" however, for several reasons it does not follow that I am implying "children adopt them as unified wholes." First, aging stereotypes are likely to be acquired in an incremental and often unconscious manner over time—extending through adulthood. Repetitive exposure to primes has been demonstrated to increase the strength of unconscious, or implicit, stereotypes (Dijksterhuis & van Knippenberg, 1998; Levy, Hausdorff, Hencke, & Wei, 2000; Murphy, Monahan, & Zajonc, 1995). (In this way, reinforcement and/or development and internalization are not mutually exclusive, as Hummert [2003] suggests.) Second, a variety of both positive and negative aging stereotypes are available in all cultures (Hummert, 1999; Sokolovsky, 1994). Third, individual, group, and institutional circumstances determine the degree to which stereotypes travel from out there to in there (Levy & Banaji, 2002). All of these factors are among the ones that help to explain the variability in views of aging found in our longitudinal studies (Levy, Slade, & Kasl, 2002; Levy, Slade, Kunkel, & Kasl, 2002), together with other research (e.g., Hummert, 1999).
As Zebrowitz (2003) points out, denial and compensatory behavior are readily found among elders, but rather than taking them at face value, it seems helpful to consider them as techniques for concealing unconscious processes (Freud, 1946; Greenberg, Schimel, & Mertens, 2002). Accordingly, these defenses could be a response to the internalization of negative aging stereotypes. A conscious disengagement from aging (Zebrowitz, 2003) is not equivalent to an unconscious disengagement. This may partially explain why self-fulfilling prophecies, or stereotype-congruent behaviors, have been found to operate in a wide array of studies (e.g., Hess, Auman, Colcomb, & Rahhal, 2003; Levy, 1996; Steele, 1997; Wheeler & Petty, 2001).
Zebrowitz (2003) is correct in stating that "it is premature to attribute effects of primed age stereotypes on older but not younger adults to the internalization of aging stereotypes by elderly but not younger participants." The existing literature does not indicate a differential internalization. Instead, in the New Directions article (Levy, 2003), it was suggested that (a) internalization of aging stereotypes continues across the age groups (hence the accumulation of stereotypes prior to old age that form the foundation of aging self-stereotypes), and (b) it is self-relevance that determines the effects of these stereotypes when activated. A number of studies have found a similar pattern with other types of stereotypes: Individuals who are members of groups tend to show stronger effects than those who are not, especially when the activation is subtle (e.g., Shih, Ambady, Richeson, Fujita, & Gray, 2002). The literature on age-schematicity, or self-relevance of aging (e.g., Montepare & Clements, 2001), appears to be complementary rather than a competing hypothesis.
I share the concern of Zebrowitz (2003) about "viewing adults as haplessly assimilating age stereotypes into their self-concepts." Elders are no more hapless than, for instance, the college students who slowed their walking speed in response to the implicit activation of age stereotypes (Bargh, Chen, & Burrows, 1996). Far from haplessness, it has been shown that a considerable number of elders hold positive self-perceptions of aging, and that they are able to maintain higher levels of functional health over time by drawing, in part, on perceived control (Levy, Slade, Kunkel, et al., 2002).
Received for publication February 28, 2003. Accepted for publication March 1, 2003.
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