Abstract
A laboratory experiment was conducted on a convenient sample of N = 724 introductory Psychology students from the southeastern United States, to test the effectiveness of a dual identity recategorization intervention when applied on age bias toward a hypothetical older adult, when applied on individuals both low and high on the spectrum of ageism, and when applied on members of the naturally occurring in-group, younger adults. As predicted by Optimal Distinctiveness Theory, the intervention served to worsen evaluations of an in-group target vis-à-vis a control group that was not exposed to the intervention, and especially when applied on individuals possessing lower amounts of the in-group bias in question, ageism. Moreover, although age-based stereotyping and in-group bias against an older applicant was demonstrated, the intervention was found to have no effect in changing evaluations of an older target relative to the control group. Results and implications for future research are discussed.
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Notes
As an anonymous reviewer pointed out, audio quality for the older adult conditions seems to be artificial, and even mechanical, when the linked videos are viewed on YouTube. Yet no significant differences were found for any of the measures regarding speech patterns or video clarity/quality. These somewhat surprising results could potentially be explained by the fact that experimental participants listened to the videos while they sat individually in laboratory cubicles, using high quality headphones, and with the audio level turned relatively down, in order to minimize the static that occurs in the older adult conditions. Such measures likely made the speech in older adult conditions seem far less mechanical than if they were listened to without high-quality headphones, and/or at relatively higher levels of speaker audio.
Details regarding KSAs, job duties, and all aspects related to the job were derived from O*Net.
Although we used three separate measures to examine perceived age, in order to provide the most statistically valid conclusions regarding subgroup differences, we chose the measure with the highest variance in ratings, the 8-point scale.
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Acknowledgements
This study was partly supported by a small grant from the Learning Institute for Elders at the University of Central Florida (LIFE at UCF).
We would like to acknowledge the work of our many undergraduate research assistants, without whom this study would not have been a success, including Christina Davila, Daniel Streem, Courtney Mosier, Jessica Mastin, Natasha White, Paul Leotaud, Taylor Hoffman, and Thomas Pellito. This study, and the studies leading up to it, could not have been successfully completed without your efforts.
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Marcus, J., Fritzsche, B.A. One too many categories: an experimental test on the effectiveness of a dual-identity recategorization intervention on age-based bias. Curr Psychol 33, 578–599 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-014-9230-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-014-9230-9