Kearl M C
Int J Aging Hum Dev. 1981;14(4):277-90. doi: 10.2190/lve8-kq7w-nb19-nfj8.
Much has been written or inferred about the detrimental consequences of old age stereotypes for elderly individuals. This paper presents and tests an alternative perspective called relative advantage. As the reciprocal counterpart of relative deprivation theory, this perspective claims that such stereotypes may be psychologically and sociologically functional for the old to believe. Using the results of the 1975 Louis Harris--NCOA "The Myth and Reality of Aging in America" survey, two hypotheses were tested: 1) those who feel other older individuals are worse off than themselves will have higher life satisfaction scores than those perceiving others to be as well or better off; 2) these imputations of others' difficulties correlate with one's likelihood to support and join coalitions on behalf of the old and to approve government taxing of all age groups to support them. The evidence presented raises some dysfunctional implications of debunking aging myths.
关于老年刻板印象对老年人的有害后果，已有大量著述或推断。本文提出并检验了一种名为相对优势的不同观点。作为相对剥夺理论的相互对应观点，该观点认为，对老年人而言，相信这类刻板印象在心理和社会学层面可能具有功能性。利用1975年路易斯·哈里斯——全国老龄问题委员会“美国老龄化的神话与现实”调查结果，检验了两个假设：1）那些觉得其他老年人比自己境遇更差的人，其生活满意度得分会高于那些认为其他人境遇相同或更好的人；2）对他人困难的这些归因与个人支持并加入代表老年人的联盟以及赞成政府对所有年龄段征税以支持老年人的可能性相关。所呈现的证据揭示了揭穿老龄化神话的一些功能失调的影响。
