Older people face various negative stereotypes at work, but especially those involving their physical and/or cognitive capabilities.  New research from Georgia State University highlights how these stereotypes become a self-fulfilling prophecy and undermine the performance of older workers.

The researchers show that the reduced expectations produced by stigma play a powerful role in how we actually perform.  It’s a phenomenon the researchers refer to as the “stereotype threat”.

“The concept was originally formulated to look at stereotypes around race,” the researchers say, “but the effect turned out to be much broader. It can affect older adults and affect their memory, physical performance, driving abilities, and even job satisfaction.”

Stereotype threats

The researchers highlight the range of stereotype threats older adults face, such as at the doctor’s office when they go in for routine checkups.  They cite evidence that 17% of adults over 50 years of age suffer from negative stereotyping at the doctor, with 8% worrying that they’re being negatively judged due to their age.

This in turn can result in those people underperforming on the cognitive tests given to them by their doctor and also to declining trust in their physician and general dissatisfaction with healthcare services in general.  This can also have a negative impact on our self-evaluation.

“People worry that there is truth to the negatives,” the authors say. “When they forget, they may worry they are on a slippery slope towards dementia and decline.”

This can have a negative effect not only on cognitive tasks, such as memory, but also on our physical performance if we’re believed to be slow, weak, feeble, and frail.  Lab experiments also show that the stereotype threat can weaken grip strength and even slow walking speeds.

Confidence in our ability

“We need to make people feel confident in their own abilities,” the researchers say, “and feel that they will be respected no matter how they perform.”

There is also merit in re-assessing how we feel about aging and the attitudes we may have towards it from a personal perspective to tackle any stereotypes we may have ourselves.

“Your own attitude about aging is highly predictive of your aging outcomes,” the researchers conclude. “Those who have positive attitudes about aging live longer, have better memory function, and recover more easily from illnesses.”