Levy B, Langer E
Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138.
J Pers Soc Psychol. 1994 Jun;66(6):989-97. doi: 10.1037//0022-3514.66.6.989.
This study explores whether negative stereotypes about aging contribute to memory loss in old age. The research participants consisted of old and young Chinese hearing, American Deaf, and American hearing individuals. Members of the mainland Chinese and the American Deaf cultures were recruited on the basis of the belief that they would be less likely than hearing Americans to be exposed to and accept negative stereotypes about aging. The expected results were (a) an interaction in which the 3 groups of younger Ss would perform similarly on the memory tasks, whereas the older Deaf and older Chinese participants would outperform the older American hearing group and (b) a positive correlation between view toward aging and memory performance among the old Ss. The data supported both hypotheses. The results suggest that cultural beliefs about aging play a role in determining the degree of memory loss people experience in old age.
本研究探讨了关于衰老的负面刻板印象是否会导致老年人记忆力减退。研究参与者包括中国听力正常的老年人和年轻人、美国聋人以及美国听力正常的人。中国大陆人和美国聋人文化群体的成员被招募进来，是基于这样一种信念，即他们比听力正常的美国人接触和接受关于衰老的负面刻板印象的可能性更小。预期结果是：（a）一种交互作用，即三组较年轻的受试者在记忆任务上表现相似，而年长的聋人和年长的中国受试者的表现将优于年长的美国听力正常组；（b）老年受试者对衰老的看法与记忆表现之间呈正相关。数据支持了这两个假设。结果表明，关于衰老的文化信念在决定人们老年时经历的记忆力减退程度方面发挥着作用。
