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To be or not to be: the effects of age stereotypes on the will to live

To be or not to be: the effects of age stereotypes on the will to live
To be or not to be: the effects of age stereotypes on the will to live
This study examined whether stereotypes of aging might contribute to decisions the elderly make about when to die. Old and young participants (N=64) were subliminally primed with either negative or positive stereotypes of old age and then responded to hypothetical medical situations involving potentially fatal illnesses. Consistent with our prediction, the aged participants primed with negative stereotypes tended to refuse life-prolonging interventions, whereas the old participants primed with positive age stereotypes tended to accept the interventions. This priming effect did not emerge among the young participants for whom the stereotypes were less relevant. The results suggest that societally-transmitted negative stereotypes of aging can weaken elderly people's will to live.
409-420
Levy, B.
10f1c08e-350f-40ad-898f-ae3c245c897f
Ashman, O.
1116730f-b6ff-4e9b-9e09-5f37bc035974
Dror, I.
3babcfd3-c7a5-45a3-a204-64213b6d907b
Levy, B.
10f1c08e-350f-40ad-898f-ae3c245c897f
Ashman, O.
1116730f-b6ff-4e9b-9e09-5f37bc035974
Dror, I.
3babcfd3-c7a5-45a3-a204-64213b6d907b

Levy, B., Ashman, O. and Dror, I. (2000) To be or not to be: the effects of age stereotypes on the will to live. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 40 (3), 409-420.

Record type: Article

Abstract

This study examined whether stereotypes of aging might contribute to decisions the elderly make about when to die. Old and young participants (N=64) were subliminally primed with either negative or positive stereotypes of old age and then responded to hypothetical medical situations involving potentially fatal illnesses. Consistent with our prediction, the aged participants primed with negative stereotypes tended to refuse life-prolonging interventions, whereas the old participants primed with positive age stereotypes tended to accept the interventions. This priming effect did not emerge among the young participants for whom the stereotypes were less relevant. The results suggest that societally-transmitted negative stereotypes of aging can weaken elderly people's will to live.

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Published date: 2000

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 18341
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/18341
PURE UUID: 7c6a3518-ac98-4430-b4c6-9acd9c8489ec

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Date deposited: 10 Jan 2006
Last modified: 11 Dec 2021 14:18

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Contributors

Author: B. Levy
Author: O. Ashman
Author: I. Dror

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