On the Malleability of Performance

Abstract

Popular stereotypes of aging affect the performance of seniors in a number of different domains, from memory performance to physiological response. The authors undertook a review of this area, in which they examined 17 studies that looked at the impact of stereotype primes on older individuals' cognitive, physical, physiological and psychological performance. Analyses included investigating the effects of both positive and negative age stereotypes, and implicit and explicit priming methodologies. The authors utilized a meta-analytic technique on a subset of studies that examined the impact of priming on memory performance. This yielded an effect size of 0.38. The results suggest that popular stereotypes of aging (and the corresponding subtle changes in the testing environment) are important variables to consider for those researchers testing performance of seniors.