Age-based Stereotype Threat Research Articles

For the sake of my job security: examining the effect of age-based stereotype threat on older workers’ knowledge hiding

Purpose Organizations can greatly benefit from the transfer of knowledge from older employees to younger generations. However, older workers often hesitate to share their expertise with their younger colleagues. Grounded in conservation of resources theory and the stereotype threat framework, this study aims at examining the negative impact of age-based stereotype threat on organizational knowledge management. Design/methodology/approach The authors developed a moderated mediation model and collected data from 219 older workers with a time-lagged design to explore the effect of age-based stereotype threat on older workers’ knowledge hiding. Findings The results showed that age-based stereotype threat could lead to knowledge hiding behaviors among older workers due to increased job insecurity, and leader-member exchange can potentially mitigate these effects. Originality/value The findings underscore the detrimental effect of age-based stereotype threat on organizational knowledge management and suggest that organizations should foster an age-inclusive environment to facilitate effective intergenerational knowledge transfer.

Age-based stereotype threat in the workplace: A daily diary study of antecedents and mechanisms.

Both older and younger employees are stereotyped at work, making them susceptible to age-based stereotype threat or the concern about being negatively stereotyped based on their age. To date, there is limited understanding of the workplace events that spark age-based stereotype threat and the mechanisms through which they do so. The current daily diary study aimed to assess the frequency with which older and younger employees experience various events that have been identified as potential antecedents of age-based stereotype threat (e.g., being overlooked for training or development opportunities, feeling excluded from informal socializing) as well as their association with experiences of stereotype threat. As predicted, we found that employees who reported more frequent experiences of these events subsequently reported greater feelings of stereotype threat. This association was partially mediated by the capacity of these events to increase the salience of a participant's age. There was also evidence of reciprocal association, whereby employees who felt more stereotype threat were also more likely to subsequently report experiencing these events. Employee age did not moderate the relationship between daily feelings of stereotype threat and daily outcomes, suggesting that everyday feelings of stereotype threat may be equally problematic for both older and younger employees. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Age-based stereotype threat effects on dynamic balance in healthy older adults.

Stereotype threat can lead older adults to perceive their experiences in a biased manner, giving rise to interfering thoughts and negative emotions that generate stress and anxiety. Negative beliefs about aging may serve as an additional factor that increases the need for attentional demand, potentially resulting in a performance level below their actual capabilities. In the present study, we asked whether negative aging stereotypes influence a dynamic balance task and explored the means to counteract them in healthy elderly participants. The performance of balance was compared in two groups of participants aged 65 to 75 years (n = 22) under stereotype threat or reduced-threat situation. Balance abilities were tested under dynamic conditions, requiring participants to maintain balance on a moving platform and using a gradient of difficulty (with eyes open or closed, without or with foam). Postural performance was evaluated by means of posturographic evaluation of the center of pressure displacement and motion analysis. Additionally, we investigated the effects of stereotype threat on a preferred walking speed task and on the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test. Participants under stereotype threat showed poorer balance, particularly in challenging conditions (eyes closed, on foam), with less effective body segments stabilization. Their postural stabilization on foam was worse compared to a solid surface. Conversely, those in the reduced threat condition maintained better body segment stabilization across all conditions, indicating consistent postural control regardless of the presence of foam. Stereotype threat did not affect preferred walking speed or the time to complete the "Time Up and Go" test. This study provides the first description of age-based stereotype threat effects on a dynamic balance task and how to counteract them in healthy older adults. We suggest that the decrease in postural performance observed in participants exposed to stereotype threat can be attributed to a split in attentional focus between negative intrusive thoughts and the attention needed for maintaining balance. These findings open new perspectives on how to overcome negative expectations when evaluating and training physical abilities, thereby contributing to fall prevention among older adults.

Age-Based Stereotype Threat and Elder Worker’s Knowledge Hiding: The Role of Job Insecurity and LMX

Age-Based Stereotype Threat and Elder Worker’s Knowledge Hiding: The Role of Job Insecurity and LMX

Openness to experience, a personality trait that reduces susceptibility to memory age-based stereotype threat.

Age-based stereotype threat (ABST), the concern of being judged according to a negative age stereotype may lead to underperformance in the stereotype domain. The present study aims to replicate the negative effect of ABST on episodic memory. Importantly, we further examine openness to experience as a potential buffer of the ABST effect as well as the role that different memory strategies may play in episodic memory performance. Seventy-five older adults were randomly assigned to the ABST condition or the control condition before taking a word-stem cued recall memory task. They learned word-lists with either a repetition strategy, low resource demanding but less efficient, or a mental imagery strategy, high resource demanding but more efficient. Openness was measured with the Big-5 personality questionnaire. ABST reduced memory performance and disrupted more the recall of words learned with the imagery strategy. The results also showed that openness predicted recall performance associated with the imagery strategy only in the threatened group. These results indicated that a high level in openness may disrupt the negative effect of ABST by improving the capacity of threatened people to execute efficient, resource demanding memory strategies. This finding supports the idea that contextual factors as well as individual characteristics such as personality, need to be considered when assessing episodic memory in aging.

Effects of age-based stereotype threat on time-based prospective memory.

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of a blatant activation of age-based stereotype threats (ABST) on time-based prospective memory (TBPM) in older adults. A sample of 74 adults from Hong Kong was randomly assigned to one of the two experimental conditions: the stereotyped condition (n = 36) or the neutral condition (n = 38). Participants were asked to read fictitious news reports related to dementia (stereotyped condition) or the importance of English oral skills (neutral condition). After, all participants performed a TBPM task using the Chinese lexical decision task as an ongoing task block. The results indicate a main effect of ABST on TBPM accuracy. Specifically, older adults under a blatant activation of ABST demonstrated lower TBPM accuracy (p < 0.05, ηp2 = 0.08). Further analyses based on age groups demonstrated that TBPM accuracy was only impaired in older participants (aged 70-80 years) (p < 0.05, ηp2 = 0.19). The study, for the first time, provides evidence that ABST can disrupt TBPM performance in older adults, especially when cues are blatantly activated.

Examining the Utility of a Multiple Group Membership Intervention for Alleviating the Effects of Age-Based Stereotype Threat on Older adults’ Memory Performance

ABSTRACT This study examined the effectiveness of a multiple group membership intervention for reducing the negative effects of age-based stereotype threat (ABST) on older adults’ objective memory performance and subjective memory concerns. Healthy older adults (N = 68) were randomly allocated to an ABST + threat-removal (ABST+TR) or ABST + active-control (ABST+AC) condition. After activating ABST, the ABST+TR condition completed a group-listing task and the ABST+AC condition completed a meal-listing task. Participants then completed the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) and Everyday Memory Questionnaire – Revised. One significant difference was found in memory performance between conditions; specifically, after controlling for age, gender, and number of items listed, those in the ABST+TR condition performed significantly better on the RAVLT memory interference trial. Further, listing a greater number of group memberships was associated with better memory performance in the ABST+TR condition. No significant difference was found in subjective memory concerns between the ABST+TR condition and the ABST+AC condition. Overall, the current findings indicated that raising the salience of multiple group memberships offered limited protection for older adults’ cognitive test performance in the context of ABST.

Interactions across the ages: How concerns about warmth and competence impact age-based stereotype threat in the workplace.

Although the disengagement consequences of age-based stereotype threat in the workplace are well-documented, it is less clear what causes employees to experience age-based stereotype threat. Based on socioemotional selectivity theory, the present study examines whether and why daily cross-age interactions in the workplace lead to stereotype threat. Using a diary study design over 2 weeks, 192 employees (86 employees aged 30 and younger; 106 employees aged 50 and older), completed 3570 reports on daily interactions with coworkers. Results showed that both younger and older employees experienced stereotype threat when they engaged in cross-age interactions compared to interactions with people of a similar age. The characteristics of cross-age interactions that led employees to experience stereotype threat differed by age, however. Consistent with socioemotional selectivity theory, cross-age interactions were problematic for younger employees to the degree that they triggered concerns about competence, whereas concerns about warmth led to stereotype threat among older employees. Daily stereotype threat was associated with reduced feelings of workplace belonging for both younger and older employees but, contrary to expectations, stereotype threat was not related to energy and stress. These findings suggest that cross-age interactions can lead to stereotype threat for both younger and older employees, particularly when younger employees worry they are perceived as incompetent or older employees worry they are perceived as less warm. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Toward a New Approach to Investigate the Role of Working Memory in Stereotype Threat Effects.

Stereotype threat arises when the activation of negative stereotypes about a group impairs performance of stigmatized individuals on stereotype relevant tasks. There is ample evidence that stereotype threat leads to performance detriments by consuming executive resources. Several studies indeed showed that working memory (WM) mediates stereotype threat effects among young adults. More recently, researchers have sought to understand whether the same mechanisms underlie age-based stereotype threat, but findings are mixed regarding the role of WM and some authors rather favor a motivational explanation based on regulatory fit. The present review critically appraises the empirical support for distinct forms of stereotype threat effects mediated by distinct mechanisms. We propose a novel approach based on one of the most recent WM models, the time-based resource sharing model, to evaluate the impact of stereotype threat on attentional resources in WM among both young and older adults.

The temporal dynamics of age metastereotyping and thriving at work

ABSTRACT While extensive research has been carried out on thriving at work enablers, scarce attention has been devoted to the factors that may obstruct thriving. This daily diary study builds on the age-based metastereotype activation model to fill this research gap. According to this model, employees may challenge negative age-based metastereotypes (NABM) or feel threatened by them. Thus, this study examines the role of age-based stereotype threat (ABST) in the thriving experience – a combined sense of learning and vitality – and analyzes whether perceived age similarity moderates the threat reaction to NABM. Data were collected over the course of five consecutive workdays from 82 white-collar employees, most of whom were working in the services sector. The findings indicate that NABM have next-day consequences. Specifically, NABM directly obstruct next-day vitality levels and indirectly overall employee thriving and learning through ABST, highlighting thriving dimensions’ distinctiveness. Additionally, moderation analyses showed a “safety‑in‑numbers-effect” of perceived age similarity. As existing accounts fail to specify the time cycle of NABM consequences in the workplace, this study contributes to the ageism literature by advancing next-day effects of NABM on thriving.

Health practitioner beliefs regarding the impact of age-based stereotype threat on performance in the cognitive assessment of older adults

Objectives Health practitioners’ understanding of the impact of age-based stereotype threat (ABST) on the cognitive test performance of older adults is not well understood. This study aimed to investigate health practitioners’ ability to recognize the influence of ABST in the cognitive assessment of older adults and their perceptions of its impact in practice. Methods One-hundred and twenty-nine health practitioners (86% female; M age = 39.75, SD = 11.50) with experience in conducting cognitive assessments with older adults (mainly psychologists and occupational therapists) completed an online survey assessing demographic and practice characteristics, aging beliefs, a hypothetical cognitive assessment scenario, and perceived impact of ABST on practice. Results Overall, health practitioners rated ABST factors in the assessment scenario as less detrimental to cognitive performance than internal and external factors. In a hierarchical regression model, lower recognition of ABST and negative aging beliefs significantly accounted for lower perceived impact of ABST on older adults’ cognitive test performance in practice (R 2 = .37, p < .001). Conclusion Health practitioners may not recognize the influence of ABST on assessment findings, especially if they hold negative aging beliefs. The findings highlight the need to improve health practitioners’ knowledge of ABST to increase the validity of cognitive testing in older adults.

Age-based stereotype threat and neuropsychological performance in older adults

ABSTRACT The current study investigated the effects of age-based stereotype threat on neuropsychological assessment outcomes in an older adult population. Community volunteers (n = 49) age 65 and older were screened for cognitive impairment, depression, and anticholinergic medication use. Screened individuals were randomly stratified into either an ABST or a Control group. All participants were administered a broad range of neuropsychological measures of cognition as well as a self-rating measure assessing subjective concern about cognitive ability. A main effect of ABST on subjective concern about cognitive ability was supported. Specifically, individuals in the ABST group were significantly more likely to attribute their memory errors to the onset of dementia (F(1,41) = 5.334, p = .026). However, results showed no significant difference between groups on objective neuropsychological performance measures. The current study discusses the importance of considering ABST effects in the context of neuropsychological assessment in older adult populations.

When less intergenerational closeness helps: The influence of intergenerational physical proximity and technology attributes on technophobia among older adults

Intergenerational contact for technology learning frequently transpires in various daily settings of older adults’ lives. However, older adults often hold negative age-based self-stereotype that they are less capable in technology use. Thus, they may experience age-based stereotype threats in such situations, which further induce technophobia. Previous research indicated that positive intergenerational contact can reduce age-based stereotype threat and technophobia among older adults. This research focuses on intergenerational physical proximity, a vital role in structuring intergenerational contact, to investigate how it impacts technophobia via age-based stereotype threat among older adults. In addition, the moderating effect of key attributes of technology—newness and ease of use were explored. A vignette experiment was conducted with a sample of 243 older adults. Results show that more distant intergenerational physical proximity led to lower technophobia-personal failure dimension via more positive self-perception of aging (a manifestation of less age-based stereotype threat) when the technology is of high newness and low ease of use. However, the effect of physical proximity on technophobia was insignificant when the technology is of low newness, or of high newness but high ease of use. The findings of this research can provide detailed and practical suggestions on how to reduce technophobia among older adults through effective intergenerational contact.

Am I Too Old for This? Age-based Stereotypes &amp; Older Job-Seekers

Older people will continue to comprise a substantial, growing portion of the professional workforce. Organizations’ capacity to attract and acquire the best talent will drive the success of companies in their strategic staffing practices. Evidence indicates age-based stereotypes, the stereotypes about older workers, factor into organizational decision-makers’ evaluations of candidates, often to the detriment of older employees. But recruitment and selection are each two-party processes, involving the company and the applicant. The current research approaches recruitment and selection from older workers’ perspectives and it uses two studies to explore how age-based stereotypes may pose boundaries to older workers’ chances at successfully acquiring the jobs for which they are qualified. In the first study, we demonstrate the extent to which actual recruitment messages contain age-based stereotypic content, especially related to the worker traits and job tasks involving technology and virtual work characteristics. Study 2 provides support that age-based stereotype threat can affect older job applicants encountering hiring tests. Together, our results pose implications for staffing practices in light of the future of work—where (a) older workers will comprise a larger portion of the talent pools organizations rely upon and (b) work demands and requirements increasingly involve technology and virtual factors.

The Impact of Naturalistic Age Stereotype Activation.

Almost self-fulfilling, commonly held negative stereotypes about old age and memory can impair older adults’ episodic memory performance, due to age-based stereotype threat or self-stereotyping effects. Research studies demonstrating detrimental impacts of age stereotypes on memory performance are generally conducted in research laboratories or medical settings, which often underestimate memory abilities of older adults. To better understand the “real world” impact of negative age and memory stereotypes on episodic memory, the present research tested story recall performance of late middle-aged and older adults (N = 51) following a naturalistic age stereotype manipulation, wherein every day, newspaper-style materials (comics and puzzles) were either embedded with negative age and memory stereotype stimuli (stereotype group) or neutral stimuli (control group). Furthermore, all participants were tested in favorable, familiar environments. Potential moderators of the stereotype effects, e.g., metamemory beliefs, were assessed at baseline. Current memory evaluation and subjective age, as well as perceived stereotype threat and task-related anxiety, were assessed following the stereotype manipulation as potential mechanisms of the expected stereotype effects. Results suggested a contrast effect, as the stereotype group demonstrated superior story recall performance compared to the control group. Marginally significant moderation effects by age and perceived stereotype threat indicated that stereotype rejection was present for late middle-aged adults but not older adults, indicative of stereotype lift, and for individuals who reported low and average, but not high, levels of perceived stereotype threat. Additionally, a trend suggested more positive memory evaluation for those in the stereotype group who reported awareness of the stereotype stimuli than those who did not notice the stimuli. These results are consistent with other research demonstrating benefits to memory performance in adulthood based on motivational and contextual factors, such as using relevant memory materials and testing in favorable conditions. Moreover, the results of this study contribute to our understanding of individuals’ responses to different types of stereotype stimuli, and the differential impact of stereotype manipulations that are subtle versus blatant. Individuals were motivated to counteract negative stereotype effects when conditions were supportive, stereotype presentations were naturalistic, and personal beliefs were positive.

Understanding Perceived Age-Based Judgement as a Precursor to Age-Based Stereotype Threat in Everyday Settings.

Test conditions eliciting negative stereotypes of aging among older adults can prompt age-based stereotype threat (ABST), which results in worse performance on cognitive and memory tests. Much of this research explores ABST as a phenomenon that impacts the performance of older adults. Little is known about the experience of ABST beyond performance settings and how it manifests in everyday contexts across different age groups. Gaps also remain in understanding the wider impacts of ABST, such as effects on task motivation and engagement. The current research addresses this by exploring the contexts in which age-based judgement, a theorized precursor to ABST, occurs across a wide age range of participants. The two studies in this paper present mixed-methods survey data for a total of 282 respondents aged 18–84 years. Study 1 presents a thematic analysis of open-ended responses to identify the stereotypes and settings that underpin perceived age-based judgement. The settings and stereotypes identified are discussed in relation to which contexts lend themselves to adverse ABST effects. Study 2 then asked respondents to rate the extent to which they experience threat-based concern within 12 contexts identified from Study 1. Results indicate differences in threat-based concerns between young, middle-aged and older adults for physical activity, driving, using public transport, using technology, in leadership and relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. The studies provide a foundation for future research to investigate (1) the motivational and behavioural consequences of threat-based concerns for younger adults’ driving and leadership, and in the context of the pandemic; (2) cues to ‘old’ age stereotypes and threat-based concerns among late middle-aged adults within the workplace; (3) the role of broad stereotypes of ‘incompetence’ and being ‘past-it’ on middle-aged and older adults’ engagement with technology and physical activity and (4) potential ABST effects resulting from stereotypes of older people as a burden and a problem in the context of a national crisis. Overall, this research extends our understanding of ABST by identifying further contexts and age groups that could be impacted by a wider range of ABST effects.

Understanding Older Adults' Memory Distortion in the Light of Stereotype Threat.

Numerous studies have documented the detrimental impact of age-based stereotype threat (ABST) on older adults' cognitive performance and especially on veridical memory. However, far fewer studies have investigated the impact of ABST on older adults' memory distortion. Here, we review the subset of research examining memory distortion and provide evidence for the role of stereotype threat as a powerful socio-emotional factor that impacts age-related susceptibility to memory distortion. In this review we define memory distortion as errors in memory that are associated with gist-based errors or source misattributions. Whereas, some of the reviewed experiments support the conclusion that ABST should be considered in the context of age-related differences in memory distortion, others reported little or no impact of stereotype threat. These discrepancies suggest that the role of ABST, and socio-emotional processes generally, in age-related changes in memory distortion are less clear. In this review, we argue that ABST does play an important role in age-related changes in memory distortion. We present evidence suggesting that discrepancies in the reviewed literature may be reconciled when evaluated in the context of the leading theories about stereotype threat: the Executive Resource Depletion hypothesis and the Regulatory Focus theory. We also discuss how differences in methodology and participant characteristics can account for a priori contradictory results in the literature. Finally, we propose some recommendations for researchers and practitioners when assessing memory in older adults.

Stereotype Threat, Intergenerational Contact, and Performance among the Elderly across Cultures: A Comparative Study of France and Indonesia

In the present research, we examined cross-cultural generalizability of the roles of anxiety and intergenerational contact in age-based stereotype threat (ABST). To this end, we conducted studies in France (individualistic culture) and Indonesia (collectivistic culture). In the main study, elderly participants in France and in Indonesia completed the Digit Span task that was presented as memory (high-threat) or cognitive strategy task (low-threat). Using the bootstrapping method, we found that, in both countries, stereotype threat led to lowered performance among the elderly who had little or no contact with the young. Those with positive contacts, on the other hand, showed no performance decrement under high (vs. low) threat. Highlighting the importance of culture, performance anxiety mediates the effects of threat on the performance of the French elderly, versus intergroup anxiety for the Indonesians. Self-construal (independent vs. interdependent) associated with cultural orientation (individualistic vs. collectivistic) was proposed to explain the cultural difference in the type of anxiety as a mediator. This not only leads to suggestions for future research but also for possible real-life intervention strategies.

Double Jeopardy-Analyzing the Combined Effect of Age and Gender Stereotype Threat on Older Workers.

In this study we aim to analyze the combined effect of age-based and gender stereotype threat on work identity processes (and in particular on authenticity and organizational identification) and on work performance (self-rating performance). The research utilizes an ample sample of over fifty-year-old workers from diverse organizations in Italy. Using a person-centered approach four clusters of workers were identified: low in both age-based and gender stereotype threat (N = 4,689), high in gender and low in age-based stereotype threat (N = 1,735), high in age-based and low in gender stereotype threat (N = 2,013) and high in both gender and age-based stereotype threat (N = 758). Gender was significantly associated with these clusters and women were more frequently present in those groups with high gender stereotype threat. ANOVA results show that workers in the last two clusters score significantly lower in authenticity, organizational identification and self-rate performance. All in all, if ageism is undoubtedly problematic for older workers’ identity processes, ageism and gender-stereotypes represent a double risk for women over fifty in the workplace. The analysis of the results can be beneficial both for the theoretical advancement and for the practical insights offered in the organizational and management field, where new policies of HR management can be elaborated, in order to value and to improve the workers experience.

The Moderating Role of Education on the Relationship Between Perceived Stereotype Threat and False Memory in Aging.

Studies regularly show that an age-based stereotype threat impairs older adults’ performance on memory tasks. Results regarding stereotype threat effects on false memories are less clear. Some studies suggest that education may moderate the relationship between an age-related stereotype threat and episodic memory performance in older adults. The present study aimed at examining the moderating role of education on the relationship between perceived stereotype threat (PST) and false memories in older adults. With this aim, 82 adults between 60 and 70 years of age performed a Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) task followed by a free recall test and completed questionnaires assessing both their perception of an age-based stereotype threat and their education level. Regression analyses showed no effect of PST on the production of critical lures. However, as was expected, our results showed that in higher educated older adults, as the perception of stereotype increases, the production of critical lures increases. These results confirm the moderating role of education and highlight its key role in the relationship between the age-based stereotype threat and older adults’ susceptibility to false memories.