AGE AND FORGETFULNESS - YOUNG PERCEIVERS IMPRESSIONS OF YOUNG AND OLDER NEIGHBORS

Previous person perception research has indicated that people use an a ge-based double standard when judging targets who experience single in stances of memory failure. The two experiments reported here extend th e investigation by assessing whether perceivers evidence a similar bia s in judging both the memory capability and personal traits of targets who vary in age and degree of forgetfulness. In the first experiment 179 young adults rated how likely they would be to choose a certain ty pe of neighbor, described in a two-page vignette, to perform memory ta sks. The neighbor's (i.e., target person's) age and degree of forgetfu lness were manipulated. Participants gave higher choice ratings to non forgetful than to forgetful targets. Also, they gave higher choice rat ings to old over young targets. In the second experiment ninety young adults rated the degree to which they considered targets (described in the same vignettes used in the first experiment) to possess specific traits (e.g., responsible) that were both desirable and relevant to pe rforming memory tasks. Nonforgetful targets received higher ratings th an forgetful targets and older targets received higher ratings than yo ung targets. The perception that older targets possess such traits to a greater degree than young targets may explain the initial finding th at respondents were more likely to choose old over young targets to pe rform memory tasks.