Effect of mortality salience on implicit ageism: Implication of age stereotypes and sex

Abstract

IntroductionThis research deals with the explanation of ageism by terror management theory (TMT) (Greenberg et al., 2002). Within this framework, there was an attempt to respond to two limits: a use of direct measurement procedures and a focus on the superordinate category. ObjectivesThe goal of the first study (n=188) was to test the effect of mortality salience (MS) on implicit ageism by taking into account the social cognitive perspective on age stereotypes (SCPAS) (Hummert, 1999). The second study (n=185) dealt with the impact of MS, the sex of the targets, and the sex of the participants on implicit ageism. ResultsIn the first study, results showed that in the control condition, 90-year-old targets were rated more negatively than 60-year-old targets, and participants in the MS condition made no distinction between the targets. In the second study, according to the double standard of aging (DSA) (Teuscher and Teuscher, 2006), elderly women were rated more negatively than elderly men in the control condition and consistent with TMT, MS increased ageism only when participants and targets were of the same sex. ConclusionThe findings suggest the following: when faced with their own death, young people do not differentiate old people; old people represent a threatening future self that is close to death. Results, limitations and implications for future research are also discussed.