Impact of Contact on the Development of Children's Positive Stereotyping about Aging Language Competence

Abstract

This study examined young children's (M = 38 months) beliefs about the aging of language competence using a modified mutual exclusivity paradigm (cf. Markman, 1990). Children were shown pairs of objects (familiar and unfamiliar) and were asked by a younger and older experimenter to point to the object in the pair to which a novel non-word referred. Showing reliance on a mutual exclusivity heuristic (a new word must refer to something I do not already know), children selected more unfamiliar objects as the referent. Children who had relatively little contact with older adults showed more reliance on mutual exclusivity when tested by a younger experimenter than an older experimenter. This pattern was reversed for children who had more frequent contact with older adults. These results suggest that with infrequent contact with older adults, children rely on common stereotypes linking old age with diminished competence to judge an older interlocutor's behavior. More frequent contact allows for positive stereotypes associating older age with enhanced language competence to dominate, making an older experimenter the better teacher of new words.