Evidence for the automaticity of ageism

Two studies were conducted which provided evidence that ageism (the differential association of negative traits with the aged) has an “automatic” cognitive component. Experiment 1 found that the incidental learning of trait descriptors was different depending upon whether they were encountered in questions concerning “old” persons or “young” persons; in an unannounced memory test, more negative traits were recalled when they had been encoded with reference to an “old” person, and positive traits were retrieved more often when they had been encountered in a question about a “young” person. Experiment 2 showed that the labels “old” and “young” had the effect of increasing the accessibility of associated traits in semantic memory. Subjects were found to make decisions concerning negative traits more quickly after being primed with “old” than after being primed with “young” (the reverse being true for positive traits). These age biases can be unintentional annd unconscious. The semantic priming effects were obtained despite the fact that the labels “old” and “young” were visually “masked” so as to be outside of the subject's conscious awareness.