Self-Perception and Perception of Age Groups as a Function of the Perceiver's Category Membership

Abstract

This research examined self-perception and the perception of age groups by young and elderly adults from the perspective of social identity theory and social categorization theory. Respondents rated either themselves or unfamiliar stimulus persons from three age categories in adulthood: young, middle-aged, and elderly. As expected, an ingroup bias was found in the evaluation of elderly adults. Specifically, compared to ratings made by younger adults, older adults evaluated elderly persons more favorably. Moreover, as predicted, elderly adults' self-evaluations and those of young adults asked to imagine themselves as elderly were more positive than the ratings made by respondents who evaluated an unfamiliar older adult (e.g., elderly woman, elderly man). Both cognitive and motivational processes were discussed as contributing to the phenomenon of self-other discrepancy in beliefs about and attitudes toward older adults.