Abstract
This study seeks to understand the psychological factors that may contribute to the development and endorsement of ageist belief systems. Dual process theory is used to examine how one's worldview, beliefs in social hierarchy, authoritarian aggression, authoritarian submission, and conventionalism predict ageist attitudes. Participants living in the United States (n = 407) in 49 states and territories were recruited through this online national study and completed surveys of their ageist beliefs, epistemological style, social dominance orientation (SDO), and right-wing authoritarianism (RWA). RWA, SDO, and naïve realism were all positively associated with ageist beliefs. A hypothesized path model and two alternative models suggested the retention of a model whereby naïve realism led to RWA, which led to SDO, and finally to ageism. All possible direct and indirect effects were significant within the retained model, suggesting the presence of a multiple mediation. The fit of this model was superior to that of models testing alternative theoretical causal chains. Naïve realism may lead to authoritarian aggression, authoritarian submission, and conventionalism, which may then increase the value that people place on social hierarchies, and this may influence the development and retention of ageist beliefs. Helping people to understand what their basic beliefs about the world are and how they may play a role in the development of ageism may assist in reducing ageist attitudes.
Highlights
Ageism is a system of stereotypes, prejudices, and discrimination that older adults experience because of their age and the process of ageing [1, 2]
While the original scale authors did not report the Epistemological Style Inventory (ESI)’s internal consistency or that of any of the subscales, the present study demonstrates acceptable reliability of the naıve realism subscale at α 0.73
Data Screening and Preliminary Analyses. e data were screened for univariate outliers. e social dominance orientation (SDO) had three outliers, and ageism subscale had four
Summary
Ageism is a system of stereotypes, prejudices, and discrimination that older adults experience because of their age and the process of ageing [1, 2]. Ageism has been further defined as having three forms: (a) limitations of opportunity or activities based on positive or negative age-based stereotypes; (b) a culturally held belief that one’s social position, psychological characteristics, or individual experience are in part defined by their age; or (c) age being always a germane variable to study and/or that the results of one age-group can be generalized to another or all age-groups [3]. E current study uses this same framework linking epistemological style (worldview), right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, and ageism. Most of the participants in the sample had some education beyond high school: 0.5% had only finished grade school, 8.6% had a high school diploma or GED, 9.6% completed a 2-year/technical school degree, 20.9% had completed some college (no degree), 43.2% had a 4-year college degree, 14.5% held a master’s degree, and 2.7% reported a doctorate degree
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