How images of old age vary with age: an exploratory study among the Portuguese population

Abstract

Agism was the term chosen by Butler to name the process of discrimination based on chronological age, which usually results in an image of the elderly as unproductive, sick, depressed and with cognitive impairment. This form of bias, like others that devaluate and stereotype groups of people, has a marked effect on social interaction, influencing social attitudes and perceptions in a covert manner. The use of negative images relating to old age and the aging process promotes negative attitudes relating to elderly people, affects the way they live and the way people of other ages prepare to face their old age.