Centre for Policy on Ageing



Age and capability — the role of forgetting and personal traits
Author(s)	Joan T Erber, Lenore T Szuchman
Journal title	International Journal of Aging and Human Development, vol 54, no 3, 2002
Pages	pp 173-190
Keywords	Memory and Reminiscence ; Performance ; Social characteristics [elderly] ; Older people ; Young people ; Attitudes to the old of general public ; Comparison ; United States of America.
Annotation	A person perception paradigm was used to investigate whether the personal traits ascribed to younger people differ to those of older people with regard to performance of memory-related tasks. Perceivers (52 men and 92 women aged 18 to 75) read a script in which a young or old target interviewee was either forgetful or not. Afterwards, perceivers rated the target on six desirable traits (e.g. responsible) and five undesirable traits (e.g. stubborn). Compared with unforgetful targets, forgetful targets received higher ratings on undesirable traits and lower ratings on desirable traits. With regard to age, young and old targets received similar ratings on undesirable traits, but old targets were rated higher on desirable traits. This suggests a general positive bias in favour of old targets. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-020904210 A
Classmark	DB: 5H: F: B: SB: TOB: 48: 7T
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing

...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.