Cross-cultural differences in memory: The role of culture-based stereotypes about aging

The extent to which cultural stereotypes about aging contribute to age diff erences in memory performance is investigated by comparing younger and olde r Anglophone Canadians to demographically matched Chinese Canadians, who te nd to hold more positive views of aging. Four memory tests were administere d. In contrast to B. Levy and E. Langer's (1994) findings, younger adults i n both cultural groups outperformed their older comparison group on all mem ory tests. For 2 tests, which made use of visual stimuli resembling ideogra phic characters in written Chinese, the older Chinese Canadians approached, but did not reach, the performance achieved by their younger counterparts, as well as outperformed the older Anglophone Canadians. However, on the ot her two tests, which assess memory for complex figures and abstract designs , no differences were observed between the older Chinese and Anglophone Can adians. Path analysis results suggest that this pattern of findings is not easily attributed to a wholly culturally based account of age differences i n memory performance.