Age and forgetfulness: Can stereotypes be modified?

Ninety young and 73 older perceivers read an interview script with a forget ful young target or a forgetful old target. Then perceivers rated their opi nion of the target's memory and also the extent to which they would attribu te the target's memory failures to lack of ability and to lack of effort. P rior to reading the script, one third of the perceivers read an article sta ting that memory declines with age, one third read an article stating that memory stays constant with age, and one third read no article. Young percei vers who read the memory decline article attributed memory failures to lack of ability more for the old than for the young target. This result suggest s that the stereotype held by young perceivers about memory and age can, be modified by exposure to written information.