AGE AND FORGETFULNESS - ABSOLUTE VERSUS COMPARISON DECISIONS ABOUT CAPABILITY

Perceivers were assigned to one of two decision conditions. In an abso lute decision condition, perceivers rated how likely they would be to allow a young or old highly forgetful, slightly forgetful, or nonforge tful target to perform a challenging task. In a comparison decision co ndition, perceivers rated two targets, one young and one old, who had a similar level of forgetfulness. Separate Decision Type x Target Forg etfulness analyses of variance were conducted on ratings of the two ta rget age groups. Young targets received higher ratings in the comparis on than in the absolute condition, whereas old targets were rated the same in the two conditions. There was some preference for young target s in a comparison situation, but it was concluded that for getfulness was a more important factor than age in perceivers' ratings.