Challenging Self-Directed Ageism
We live in a world that idealises youth and devalues age and ageing. When considering acts of ageism, one commonly refers to external sources, such as being exposed to jokes about aging or being the target of negative age-based assumptions about worth, capacity, or level of understanding. Often underappreciated is that ageism may also become internalized.
We sat down with QLD MIND project director Professor Julie Henry to discuss her recent publication in Trends in Cognitive Sciences.
“Within this paper, my colleagues and I propose a cognitive model to explain why ageism becomes self-directed in late adulthood, despite its potentially harmful personal costs. Why don’t older adults’ simply reject negative ageist beliefs and embrace becoming older?”
“Self-directed ageism can present as self-doubt related to one’s age (e.g., “I’m too old to learn this new technology” or “I’m too old to make new friends”), negative self‑perceptions of one’s own personal aging (e.g., “I’m so much worse at this than I used to be”), as well as worry and concern about the possibility of being negatively judged in relation to age-based stereotypes (“If I forget to do this, they’re going to think it’s because I’m old”).”
KEY MESSAGES
1.As we grow older, we increasingly rely on accumulated prior knowledge and environmental cues to guide how we feel, think, and behave. This means that the ageist social norms we have been exposed to throughout our lives, and the ageist cues we continue to encounter in our everyday lives, may both become more impactful
2.One of the ways in which self-directed ageism can be harmful is by creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. Negative beliefs about age and ageing can undermine older adults’ confidence to take on more challenging opportunities or make them believe that there is little point in trying to take care of themselves
3.Because these effects are contingent on our social environment, systemic changes in societal conceptions of age and ageing are needed if we are to reduce vulnerability to self directed ageism
To learn more about the cognitive tenacity of self-directed aging, click here.