Origins of stereotypes of the elderly: An experimental study of the self-other discrepancy

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Abstract
An experiment using young and old subjects was carried out to test two different explanations for the Harris survey data showing that elderly persons rate their own lives much more positively than they rate the lives of similarly aged others. The informational bias explanation suggests that the old (and young) are passive recipients and mediators of widely disseminated information concerning the life problems of the elderly. The negative evaluations of the elderly in general reflect in part the objective conditions of the lives of the elderly and the tendency of the media to focus on the problems of the elderly. In contrast, self-evaluations are relatively positive because generalized views of growing old are attenuated by lowered expectancies regarding living conditions in late life. The motivational bias explanation assumes a self-enhancing cognitive bias among the elderly that causes them to devalue the lives of similarly aged others. The first explanation is supported by replicating the Harris poll data and demonstrating that the self-other discrepancy can be systematically manipulated by varying, in theoretically relevant ways, the instructions given to subjects.