Age and Social Identity:
The Subtle and Brutal Nature of Age
Discrimination
Dominic Abrams
Director, Centre for the Study of Group Processes
Department of Psychology
University of Kent
National Institute of Economic and Social Research Conference
‘Tackling Age Discrimination in Britain: The Employment (Age) Equality
Regulations and Beyond’.
The British Academy, London, September 29th 2006
Overview
• An evidence-based framework for understanding
the social bases of age discrimination
• General ageist stereotypes and their implications
• Evidence from Age Concern England’s research on
ageism and intergenerational contact
• Intergenerational solutions - experimental evidence
on counteracting ageist stereotypes
• Social and Practical Implications
• More to think about….
The Problem
•Age is an aspect of everyone’s identity
•Ageism may be: non-conscious, implicit,
and even seem ‘benevolent’
•Ageism is under-researched compared
with other types of prejudice
•Relatively little work on the causes and
underpinnings of ageism – the processes
•Difficult to group people by age – key issue
is relationships across age boundaries
Some Social Psychological Evidence-based Theory
•Group Perception Theory – several factors increase the
sense that people are bound together as a group, but may
also increase stereotyping
•Social Identity Theory – group-based identity provides
distinctiveness meaning and value for the self-concept, as
well as a potential source of bias and hostility
•Intergroup Contact Theory – friendship-based contact
between individuals across group boundaries increases
trust, mutual disclosure, and positive attitudes to the other
group as a whole
•Common Ingroup Identity – greatly improved intergroup
relationships when people can find a basis for shared
identity across groups
Others
The Consequences of Stereotypes
Observation
Inference
Self
Category-Based
Stereotype
Confirmation
Example:
A person prangs the car
Is the person 17 or 70?
Apply stereotype >> Infer cause
Older >> Incompetent >> Doddery Driver
Younger >> Impetuous >> Inexperienced Driver
Apply remedy
Older >>> Remove driving license for ever
Younger >>> Fine, more lessons
ACE National Surveys of Ageism
• September/October 2004, 1843 respondents
• Examine the links between elements of ageism in society
• Questions relating to the “under 30’s” and “over 70’s”
• Among issues examined:
– Age categorization
– Stereotypes
– Positive intergenerational contact
Summary report ‘How Ageist is Britain?’ available on www.ageconcern.org.uk
• New
Survey, August 2006, 2113 respondents
Perceived Start of Old Age and End of Youth
Among People of Different Ages
Age
Categorisation
At what age do you
think people stop
being young?
Average Estimated Age
At what age do you
think old age starts?
Perceived Age at
Which Youth
Stops
Perceived Age at
Which Old Age
Starts
80.00
70.00
60.00
50.00
40.00
30.00
16-24
25-34
35-44
45-54
55-64
65-74
Age in 10 year blocks
75+
Prevalence of
discrimination in
Britain
Percent Experiencing Prejudice
30
25
20
15
28.21%
23.6%
10
18.34%
16.77%
14.43%
11.34%
5
0
ity
al
xu
Se
ty
Tackling Age Discrimination Beyond the
Workplace
lity
bi
sa
Di
ci
ni
th
n
io
lig
Re
/E
ce
Ra
x
Se
e
Ag
In the past year how
often has someone
treated you unfairly
because of your:
-Gender
-Age
-Religion
-Race or ethnic
background
-Any disability
-Sexual orientation
Experience of Prejudice in the Last Year on the Basis of
Different Categories
Stereotyping
older people
Percent Perceiving Different Traits As Stereotypical of Over
70s
70
60
% Agree
50
40
67.51%
30
51.17%
20
37.47%
34.21%
27.09%
26.97%
10
8.6%
9.28%
0
a
or
M
l
le
ab
t
en
llig
te
In
ap
C
ly
nd
ie
Fr
g
in
st
gu
is
D
le
ab
vi
En
e
bl
tia
Pi
e
bl
ira
m
Ad
To what extent are
people over 70
viewed:
With admiration
With pity
With envy
With disgust
As friendly
As capable
As intelligent
As moral?
Differences in
‘warmth’ and
‘competence’
stereotypes
between older
and younger
people
Older
People
are
“Doddery
(but
Dear)”
Averaged Perceived Difference in Stereotypes of Younger and
Older People's Friendliness and Capability
Average Difference in favour of older (+) or younger (-)
Key traits:
Friendly
Capable
0.60
0.30
0.00
-0.30
-0.60
-0.90
16-24
25-34
35-44
45-54
55-64
Age of Respondent
65-74
75+
Summary so far..
•Age begins 15 years after the end of youth
•Experience of ageism is more prevalent than of
all other forms of prejudice
•Older people are stereotyped as ‘warm’ but
‘incompetent’ – benevolent prejudice
•Intergenerational contact is restricted by age
•What might be the consequences?
Stereotype Threat
Stereotypes create disadvantage
– the ‘burden of suspicion’ that a negative
stereotype about one’s group’s abilities
may be confirmed
• E.g. women worse at maths, Black students
worse (than white) at maths, Asian students
better at maths, gay men a ‘risk to children’.
– Older people less competent?
– When reminded of negative stereotypes of
older people, their cognitive performance
gets worse (e.g. Levy, 1996).
– When told that younger people have
better memories, older people’s memory
performance gets worse (Hess, Auman,
Colcombe & Rahal, 2003).
Can Group-Based Stereotype Threat
Be Reduced?
• Closer contact between generations may
reduce the psychological distance between
‘old’ and ‘young’.
• In turn this may weaken the expected
stereotypes and so reduce stereotype threat
Looking ahead: Contact with the over 70's and beliefs about their
declining competence
Intergenerational
Relationships
50
40
Without 70+
Friend
% Agreeing
Competence
30
Declines with
Age
With 70+
Friend
20
10
16+
25+ 35+ 45+ 55+
Age of Respondent
65+
Looking back: Intergenerational Contact and Self-Stereotypes
Among the Over 70s
(n=278)
Stereotype of Over 70s
Evidence
from the
ACE
2004
Survey
70+
4
3.5
Without 30- Friend
With 30- Friend
3
2.5
2
Friendly Capable Common
Group
Experimental Evidence: Test of Cognitive Ability
Experiment 1: Does intergenerational friendship ward off
stereotypes? (Abrams, Eller, Bryant, Psychology and Aging, in press)
•97 participants over the age of 59
– “see whether old people do perform more poorly on
intellectual tasks than young people” (threat).
Vs
– “see how people differ in their responses on different
tasks” (no threat).
Measures
• Various types of positive intergenerational contact
• Performance
• Anxiety
• Intergenerational attitudes
Effect of Stereotype Threat and Intergenerational
Contact on Cognitive Performance
Performance index
1
0.5
Less Positive
Contact
More Positive
Contact
0
-0.5
-1
Low Threat
High Threat
Anxiety During Performance
5
4.5
Anxiety Level
4
3.5
Less Positive
Contact
More Positive
Contact
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
Low Threat
High Threat
How Intergenerational Contact Prevents
Stereotype Threat Effects
Low Positive Contact
High
Anxiety
Under
Performance
Threat
High Positive Contact
Low
Anxiety
True
Performance
Intergenerational Contact, Stereotype Threat
and Intergenerational Attitudes
3
2.5
Ingroup Bias
2
1.5
Less Positive
Contact
More Positive
Contact
1
0.5
0
-0.5
-1
Low Threat
High Threat
Tackling Age Discrimination Beyond the Workplace
For Older People,
Positive Intergenerational Contact is
Associated with:
• Reduced Negative Self-Stereotypes
• Reduced Negative Intergenerational Bias
• Reduced Threat-related Test Anxiety
• Improved Performance on Cognitive Tests
Caveats
• Era and culture differences in respect
• Conflictual integenerational relationships
• Contact but no relationship
• Segregation is ‘good for mental well
being’
•What about discrimination against
younger people?
Conclusions for Research, Policy & Practice
• Prejudice and stereotypes are often embedded in
relationships
• Ageism is a dynamic form of intercategory prejudice
affecting young and old in different ways
• Effective policy depends on researching and
understanding factors that elevate and reduce
prejudice
• Increasing positive cross-group relationships can
create substantial direct and indirect benefits for all
individuals
•Increasing intergenerational relationships, reducing
exclusion isolation and segregation,will have
positive economic and societal consequences
Acknowledgements
Leslie Sopp Age Concern Research Services
Sujata Ray and Andrew Harrop ACE
Tendayi Viki, Anat Bardi, Georgina Randsley de Moura
Centre for the Study of Group Processes, University of
Kent