B. Levy et E. Langer, AGING FREE FROM NEGATIVE STEREOTYPES - SUCCESSFUL MEMORY IN CHINA ANDAMONG THE AMERICAN DEAF, Journal of personality and social psychology, 66(6), 1994, pp. 989-997
This study explores whether negative stereotypes about aging contribut
e to memory loss in old age. The research participants consisted of ol
d and young Chinese hearing, American Deaf, and American hearing indiv
iduals. Members of the mainland Chinese and the American Deaf cultures
were recruited on the basis of the belief that they would be less lik
ely than hearing Americans to be exposed to and accept negative stereo
types about aging. The expected results were (a) an interaction in whi
ch the 3 groups of younger Ss would perform similarly on the memory ta
sks, whereas the older Deaf and older Chinese participants would outpe
rform the older American hearing group and (b) a positive correlation
between view toward aging and memory performance among the old Ss. The
data supported both hypotheses. The results suggest that cultural bel
iefs about aging play a role in determining the degree of memory loss
people experience in old age.