Ageism in America

Since the beginning of this course we have learned that ageism is a large problem in

America. Per our class lectures, ageism is a term coined by Robert Butler and it describes a form

of discrimination that is used towards older adults based on their age. There are a few different

types of ageism. Theres personal ageism, which includes things such as stereotypical ideas,

assumptions, and beliefs. Second, there is institutional ageism, this is rules or practices that are

discriminatory. Next, there is intentional ageism, which are clear, intentional biases. Lastly there

is unintentional ageism, or in other words, thoughtlessness. (Barnett, Ageism, Age Stereotypes,

and Self-Stereotypes, 2017). In class, we looked at how ageism not only effects someone

physically, but mentally as well.

By looking through different scholarly articles, I found a few main themes that can

correlate with course materials. These common themes include, how society, especially younger

generations, view the elderly population. And the relationship between aging and death anxieties,

and how that can contribute to ageism.

On the first day of class, we made a list of how society, especially us as college students,

view the elderly population. Describing words on that list include, grumpy, old, fragile, bad

drivers, unhealthy, bad memory, traditional, judgmental, and this list goes on. The list we created

for how society views them is completely negative. As young kids, we get this perception of how

we view older adults, which mostly stems from the older adults we have in our lives that we get

to observe. In the article by North & Fiske, a random-sample survey of older and younger adults

found that warmth and competence combinations drive perceivers' stereotypes, emotional

prejudices, and behavioral reactions toward members of specific groups. (North & Fiske, 2012).

So, from that observation they found that older people, by default compose a pitied social group

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that is stereotypically warm but incompetent. (North & Fiske, 2012). In other words, this is

reflecting ageisms complexity when mainstream society stereotypes older people in a

simultaneously positive and negative light, by saying they are both warm and incompetent.

(North & Fiske, 2012). Basically, we are predisposition as a society to view the older population

as these cute, but senile people.

Another common theme I found was about mental health and the interactions between

aging and death anxieties. While ageism is mostly found in younger generations, in the article

The interaction between aging and death anxieties predicts ageism, they take a closer look at

ageism found among older adults which can be termed as self-ageism. (Bodner, Shrira,

Bergman, Cohen-Fridel, & Grossman, 2015). In a positive way, this self-ageism can enhance an

elders self-esteem by comparing themselves to the stereotypical frail elder of the same age.

However, it can be very detrimental to their self-image, because people tend to incorporate

negative views about age into their views of themselves. When they have negative views about

growing old, those views can have adverse implications on the way that this adult ages. (Bodner,

Shrira, Bergman, Cohen-Fridel, & Grossman, 2015).

In our class lecture on Ageism, Age Stereotypes, and Self-Stereotypes, we learned that

the consequences of ageism can be potentially damaging to an individual. Personal ageism

includes the stereotypical ideas and attitudes that we have towards a specific group, in this case

the elderly population. Also, a large part of this can be unintentional ageism, which is made up of

thoughtlessness. I think a combination of personal and unintentional ageism can result in a huge

loss of self-esteem and bring on depression. (Barnett, Ageism, Age Stereotypes, and Self-

Stereotypes, 2017). This week in class, while reading and discussing mental health and older

adults we learned that older adults are at a greater risk for suicide than any other age group,

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mostly due to depression. (Hooyman & Kiyak, 2011). For example, it is estimated that 17-20

percent of all completed suicides occur in persons aged 65 and older. (Hooyman & Kiyak,

2011).

In the class lecture this week on mental health, we learned about why mental illness is

such a bigger problem for older adults, and why it leads to a higher risk for suicide. The video

we watched, with Dilip V. Jeste, he discusses mental health and the older adult. One of the

biggest reasons is that individuals are living longer, which gives them more opportunity to be

diagnosed with a mental illness later in life. However, those diagnosed at a younger age give

them more opportunity to attempt suicide. Also, suicide, depression, and substance abuse are

largely effecting the baby boomer generation at this point. (Barnett, personality and Mental

Health, 2017).

As an example, being diagnosed with anxiety at a later age can be detrimental to the

individual, especially if they have negative views of aging. Those who have negative views of

aging report lower psychological well-being and have more physical problems such as

cardiovascular events, heightened cardiovascular responses, and elevated skin conductance.

(Bodner, Shrira, Bergman, Cohen-Fridel, & Grossman, 2015). In the later stage of life, death

anxiety becomes very prevalent. Death anxiety is described as an emotional state of death

awareness in which people experience terror as a response to the knowledge of their mortality.

(Bodner, Shrira, Bergman, Cohen-Fridel, & Grossman, 2015). When an elder has anxiety, it can

be associated with greater susceptibility to disease, and deteriorating bodily functions and death,

leading to higher accounts of death anxieties. This also links back to how we view adults and

where our ideas that all older adults have chronic illnesses. It also leads to people reporting

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ageist attitudes in response to older adults, and demonstrates that the fear of death is positively

associated with ageism. (Bodner, Shrira, Bergman, Cohen-Fridel, & Grossman, 2015).

There are many ways that we can combat ageism. For example, older individuals can

construct their own future selves as different than a normal old person at this point. This can lead

to a more positive view towards aging. (Jonson, 2013). There certainly are barriers to healthy

aging, but we can make dramatically positive improvements in physical and mental well-being in

older adults simply by educating others in society. One area of education would be to emphasize

the positive aspects of aging. (Nelson, 2016). Another strategy we can use to combat ageism is to

work on the language that we are using that can lead to discrimination. In one study of Twitter, a

large portion of tweets were found to have discriminatory language towards the older population.

(Gendron, Welleford, Inker, & White, 2016). So, by educating our society to use better language,

we can combat ageism and stereotypes.

As we can see by now, ageism is very prevalent in our everyday lives. I have observed

the most ageism in the media and through daily interactions with my peers and family. Makeup

ads are extremely ageist because they are always promoting the idea of looking younger. They

do not promote positive aging in any way, even when they seem like they are. They lure you in

to buying makeup by promising you that your skin will be rejuvenated, the wrinkles will fade, or

the bags under your eyes will be smaller, etc. They try to make the ad sound very positive to

older adults by saying that your skin will look younger, but these ads are doing the opposite of

that. Theyre making the older population feel like they arent beautiful because their skin is

wrinkly or older looking, so theyre basically promoting a negative self-image for older adults.

Especially when the older individual buys the product hoping that it will make them look

younger, so they are accepted by our society, but lowers their self-esteem when it fails to work.

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 Another area of the media that is heavily ageist are commercials, especially those played

during the day. Since most elder adults are the ones watching television during the day, the

commercials are heavily geared towards them. These commercials are not a positive ageism view

either. They mostly feed into the typically stereotype that all older adults have some type of

chronic health issue. For example, one commercial that I see regularly is one about Hepatitis C

virus and how it is largely effecting those in the baby boomer generation. They use the tactic of

saying how HEP C can hide in your body for years before showing symptoms, and thats why

you need to go out and get tested for it right away. Ive also seen other articles on the internet

that label HEP C as The Baby Boomer Virus.

In addition, they also feed into the chronic health issue stereotype by making many

commercials about medications for older adults. Many advertise for helping with osteoporosis, or

erectile dysfunction. If you listen to the commercial closely and analyze it, you can find many

interesting patterns within the commercial. For example, in the start of the commercial they

usually have the actor or a narrator talking, and thats the sound that is the loudest. Once they get

to listing all the side effects of the medications, they usually turn up the volume of the music, or

have some type of happy image or commercial on screen. This way it takes the focus off all the

horrible side effects, and tries to capture your attention on the happy music or images on the

screen. By doing this theyre attempting to promote the positive side of medications for elderly

people who suffer from chronic illnesses, while trying to ignore the negative sides of the

medications that they legally must include. These commercials are participating in ageism by

promoting the idea that every adult suffers from some type of chronic illness. Younger adults

who are not very educated, then view those commercials, develop the stereotype even further.

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 These are the ways that I see ageism being portrayed through the media in our society. I

chose these examples because the media plays an extremely important role in our society, and I

think thats where most ageism stereotypes are shown.

Another way I experience ageism is through interactions with others. I interviewed one of

my friends about what they think of aging. He said that our society is very heavily influenced by

negative ageism. Most younger generations do not want to take care of older adults so they just

put them into nursing homes so they dont have to deal with the responsibility. Because of our

negative view of the elderly population we make assumptions that they are fragile and need a lot

of care, which would take time out of our schedules. I noticed less ageism through personal

examples, but they had more impact on the individual when they were experienced. As children,

we learn from what is modeled to us by those we look up to. If those adults are constantly being

ageist, well grow up having the same negative view. It impacts our behaviors more than other

forms of ageism. When we see it through the media, we become so used to it that its not

something that we immediately recognize as ageism. Ageist experiences in your personal life

hold more of an impact because they are directly in your conscious observations, so they go into

your memory instead of being forgotten.

Throughout these observations, the most common trend of ageism I saw was the idea of

looking younger. They work so hard to promote products that will make elder males and females

feel younger. I think this could also correlate with the chronic illness stereotype promoting that if

you buy these products, theyll make you feel younger which will lift your self-esteem and

promote a healthier you. Which they also try to do in the commercials about medications because

they try to promote the idea of by taking this medication youll be able to live a happy life while

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being in control of your illness. Unfortunately, they do everything they can to not mention the

side effects that you will most likely experience by taking certain medications.

As a reflection of the information I have discussed, I think that the literature review and

observational research has similar ideas. They both get at the idea that our society plays a big

role in the developmental health and mental wellbeing of the elderly populations. The way that

we treat older individuals is crucial to how they view themselves. We put such a huge priority on

younger generations and keeping them safe from bullying, which can lead to self-esteem issues

or suicide, but lack the same respect for the elderly. Basically, when the same thing is happening

to them, but it goes unnoticed because were programed at an early age to view them as senile

and chronically ill. Elderly adults get negatively talked about on social media, they get made fun

of in public, or as a society we pity them and act overly nice.

All of this plays an important role on how they age. When I think of getting older the

ideas I have are health issues, being slower at everyday tasks, and death. I only think of negative

things about aging because thats all Ive ever observed. I believe were subconsciously taught

from a young age to fear the idea of getting older. Ive heard so many countless times of people

saying that it all goes downhill after you turn 25. Its such a horrible outlook, that even at that

young of an age, you dread turning 25 because you think lifes over after that. In the Bodner,

Shrira, Bergman, Cohen-Fridel, & Grossman article it talked about how the fear of death

positively associated with ageism, not only death anxiety, but also aging anxiety, which may be

related to higher use age of ageism. (Bodner, Shrira, Bergman, Cohen-Fridel, & Grossman,

2015). This concerns me because if you already have a mindset of aging anxiety at the age of 25,

how will that effect your health overall? From then on you a higher chance of developing

illnesses, or risk developing more mental illnesses like depression.

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 What concerns me the most is how much the media plays in this whole concept. Its

alarming that we constantly get these subconscious messages in every aspect of our daily

routines to keep ourselves young. No wonder we have such a fear of growing older. Younger

generations are very influenced by social media and integrate what they learn into their daily

actions. Its even gone beyond advertising for products that keep you from aging, to advertising

for things like airlines. For example, one of my pictures in my collage is a giant billboard ad for

an airline company. It says fool around with a younger, hotter airline. I found that ad to be

ridiculous for using ageism to promote their airline services. Theyre sending the message that

everything has an expiration date, and that we shouldnt use services after a certain time.

Before starting this class, I never paid attention to ageism. I was the person who got mad

when I had to deal with slow drivers, or believed that growing older only included developing

some type of chronic illness. However, thats all that was modeled to me on both sides of my

family. There are several health issues on both sides of my family, so thats all I constantly hear

about. My dad has a few siblings who are constantly sick with some illness and only have so

many months to live, yet theyre still here. They take the stereotype of becoming ill when you

age and take it to a whole new level, which is then reflected in their children. Their children

reflect it by having the same views that as they age, they are developing these chronic illnesses.

However, most their illnesses do not come from aging, but stem from their lifestyle choices. Not

even one of them eats healthy, exercises, or takes care of their body. They smoke, drink, and sit

around all day. So, thats the view of aging that I grew up with, that is was this very negative

thing, and it taught me to fear growing older.

Now, from what weve learned in class, and what I learned by taking those age tests is

that I do not have to fear growing older, I just need to make choices that will positively influence

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my life. I would rather take a Baddie Winkle approach to life and embrace aging, instead of

having a bad view on aging and be miserable because I made myself more susceptible to diseases

and mental illnesses.

I believe that there are many ways that I can address ageism in my personal and

professional life. In the professional world, I must deal with elders at some point, so I should be

aware of doing that in a positive way. I also should be able to interact with them without letting

my personal biases get in the way. In my personal life, I interact with older adults all the time,

and I should be embracing that and learning what I can from them, not dreading it because they

can be frustrating.

In past class lectures, we have discussed ways to combat ageism, and I think we

discussed some very important ways. In my personal life, I can make sure that I am doing

everything I can to have a positive aging experience. This would include things like eating a

balanced diet, exercising, not smoking, avoiding overexposure to the sun, practicing good safety

habits, and having a good social support. (Barnett, The Biology of Aging, 2017). Also, ways to

interact with elder adults to overcome ageism in a personal and professional way can include

being patient with them, routines, repetition, limiting distractions, and not making assumptions.

We tend to assume that because an older person forgets something, they automatically have

dementia, but that is not true. (Barnett, Cognitive ProcessAcross the Lifespan, 2017).

When it comes down to it, I think social support is the best thing that we can offer the

elderly. For me, the biggest thing Ive learned is that you can be respectful and helpful, without

doing it in a condescending way. I can offer my help to an elderly person, but I dont have to do

it in a way that makes them feel like Im only doing it because I pity them. All in all, ageism is a

very serious problem in our society, and its something that needs to be worked on.

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 Reference List
North, M. S., & Fiske, S. T. (2012). An inconvenienced youth? ageism and its potential
intergenerational roots. Psychological Bulletin, 138(5), 982-997.
Bodner, E., Shrira, A., Bergman, Y. S., Cohen-Fridel, S., & Grossman, E. S. (2015). The
interaction between aging and death anxieties predicts ageism. Personality and Individual
Differences, 86, 15-19.
Nelson, T. D. (2016). Promoting healthy aging by confronting ageism. American
Psychologist, 71(4), 276-282.
Hakan Jonson, PhD; We Will Be Different! Ageism and the Temporal Construction of Old
Age. Gerontologist 2013; 53 (2): 198-204.
Tracey L. Gendron, PhD, E. Ayn Welleford, PhD, Jennifer Inker, MS, John T. White, MS; The
Language of Ageism: Why We Need to Use Words Carefully. Gerontologist 2016; 56 (6): 997-
1006.
Hooyman, N. R., & Kiyak, H. A. (2011). Social Gerontology: A Multidisciplinary Perspective.
Pearson, 2011.

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