What is the link between age, ability and appearance? - Chapter 12

Some social category memberships are temporary. They are also sources of interpersonal bias. It's puzzling that some people would react negatively to members of social groups according to these temporary, not interchangeable, social categories. 

What is ageism?

Ageism is when people making judgments about persons because of their age. Youth is values a lot. We can see that in everyday life. When people get older, certain functions get worse. Still, a lot of people of middle and old age say that their age brings them stability and happiness. Older adults who have a good health and a good social support network are more satisfied and complain less than young adults. They are also more likely to experience positive emotions.

When does the old age begin?

Age is divided in three categories: young, middle and old age. Old age is sometimes subdivided into ‘young-old’ and ‘old-old’. Adults in their 20s and 30s are seen as young, those between 35 and 60 as middle age, those between 60 and 75 as young-old and those older than 75 as old-old. Deciding whether a person has reached old age depends on factors such as whether he or she is senile or useless. Older people usually feel younger than their actual age. Sometimes people just don’t want to admit that they are old, even if they’re 85. The reason why people dread aging is because they fear death. Young people deal with this threat by physically distancing themselves from older adults. They can do this by avoiding old people or by exaggerating the differences between them and old people. When people get older, their fear of death levels off. They learn to cope with the inevitable death. They do this by creating a positive self-image. They might find negative examples of aging and then say to themselves that they don’t look like that person. They may also use positive language and refer to themselves as older adults.

What are beliefs about old people?

Age is a basic social category and one of the first things someone sees about another person. Age-related stereotypes can be put into four categories: intolerance, health, personality and activity. Some of the characteristics that are part of intolerance are grumpy, critical and getting upset easily. Characteristics of health are walking slowly, problem with the hearing and health problems. Characteristics of personality are old-fashioned, thinking about old days, experience and likeable. Characteristics of activity are physically inactive, having hobbies and not be optimistic. So, older people are usually rated as being less competent, but they are rated as being very warm as well. These beliefs reflect a benevolent ageism. Another big belief about old people is that they are less attractive than younger people. One research found that people, who are seen as ugly, also are seen as being older.

Some people think that there is a double standard for aging. They think that aging occurs at an earlier age and has more serious consequences for women than for men. Research shows that people both men and women perceive physical attractiveness decline with age, but that the decline for women was perceived as greater. Female’s femininity declined when they aged, but a male’s masculinity didn’t.

Some stereotypes that are associated only with male aging, like balding, are seen as unattractive. Old women hide their age; they also conceal signs of aging, by using makeup and by colouring their hair. So there seems to be a double standard on raging. It is negative for women.

There are different substereotypes about old people. Some of them include Golden Ager, Perfect Grandparent and a really popular one is the forgetful old person. Young people perceive forgetting things a bigger problem than old people.

What is media based discrimination?

The media has a lot of power on how we perceive certain groups. The media can also influence our view about old people. Usually, old people are not seen as much on television. When they do appear on the television, it is usually in a positive role. Also, when they appear in advertisement, this is usually pharmaceutical advertisement. Even in magazines where old people can order clothes for themselves, there are no old models. The models used are usually women in their 40s. Men usually appear in the subtype of the productive Golden Ager.

What is workplace discrimination?

Workplace discrimination is the most common form of discrimination against old people. There are more and more cases in which people sue their company because they have been discriminated at the workplace. When older workers lose their job, it is hard for them to find a new one. Even if they do find a job, they get les paid than younger people. Because of the stereotype that older people are inflexible, they might not get hired because of this. Another think people don’t like about the older people is that they talk in a patronizing way.

What is health discrimination?

A lot of people think that old people are always ill. Even health care providers think that. Old people are sometimes treated unfairly when it comes to healthcare. Physicians discussed fewer medical ad psychosocial issues with old people than with young people. Physicians are also more engaged and friendly towards young people than old people. They also respect young people more than they respect old people. Emotional problems old people face are sometimes seen as ‘normal’ and a part of aging. They won’t be treated in a good way and the old people can become depressed. Physicians who treated a lot of old people held more stereotypic beliefs about them than physicians who treated just a few old people.

What are the effects of self-stereotyping?

The most important thing to know for old people is that if they think of themselves as young, vital and not willing to fit the old-people-are-useless stereotype, they will live longer lives than older people with negative stereotypes about themselves.

What is ability?

When we think about the disabled, we think about blind, deaf, mentally retarded or orthopedically impaired people. Yet, the legal definition of disability also covers the hidden conditions, like cancer, bipolar disorder, diabetes and heart disease. So disability is a physical or mental impairment that limits some major life activities. There are no objectively defined categories of disability. Also, disability is a social construct. Disabled people are seen as a stigmatised group.

What are physical disabilities?

People in general have positive attitudes towards persons with physical disabilities. They are open to work, date and marry. Dating and marrying to a lesser degree than working. Attitudes depend on the social context and the type of disability. Women with disabilities had parents who were less likely to talk to them about sex, dating, marriage and having children. These parents gave negative messages about their sexual and social potential. When people socialize with physical disabled people, they tend to patronize them. Also, prejudice depends on the type of physical disability. Some physically disabled people are more laughed at and stared at than other physically disabled people.

Because physically disabled people are a small percentage of the population, not a lot of people have interacted with them. They don’t know how they have to react to them and don’t know if they have to offer help or not. They may perceive disabled people as being bitter and that’s why they may try to avoid them. They might get anxious, which can be divided into two types: the first one is aesthetic anxiety. This stems from the fear that people don’t want to be seen with unattractive people. The second type of anxiety is existential anxiety and this is related to the fear of losing one’s own physical abilities. When a physically disabled person acknowledges that he or she has a disability, it helps him or her a lot.

Is there a stigma of disability?

Stigmas depend on whether factors are concealable and controllable, but with disabilities this varies. Some disabilities are concealable, like epilepsy, and others are not, like being cripple. Mental illnesses can sometimes be concealable and can be controlled. Disabilities that are seen as controllable are viewed more negatively, than uncontrollable disabilities. Also, disabilities that are viewed as aesthetically unappealing and dangerous are viewed as more negative. You now see that there are a lot of different types of disabilities that are viewed differently. It is therefore hard to draw conclusions about when and why disabled people experience prejudice. Still, it is important to find it, because a lot of disabled people find coping with what others say or think about them harder than coping with their disability.

What about mental illness?

Certain stereotypes about people with a mental illness are being depressed, unpredictable, dangerous and aggressive. You see that attitudes towards mentally ill people are more negative than attitudes towards physical disabled people. Mental illness is the least socially accepted disability category. People are less willing to be friends with a mentally ill person than with someone with another disability. People’s beliefs about mental illness are influenced by how controllable they view the disorder to be. People usually think that mental illnesses are hard to cure and therefore are dangerous. Negative attitudes towards mentally ill people can have a bad effect on the mentally ill, because they are less likely to search for treatment.

What is physical attractiveness?

People who are physically attractive enjoy more advantages and people who are unattractive can experience prejudice and discrimination. Adults and children from different cultures show a high agreement on which faces are attractive. Symmetrical faces with average features, smooth skin and youthful faces are seen as attractive. People with a muscular body type are seen as healthy and more attractive. Also, beauty is associated with good things. Preference for the attractive results is called lookism. Being attractive is more likely to affect people’s perceived popularity and sociability than their perceived morality. But being attractive also has a downside. Attractive people are seen as being more vain and egotistical.

Does height matter?

Height is also a characteristic that people immediately see when they look at someone. Tall people seem to benefit from their stature and small people are viewed negatively. Taller people are more likely to be hired, get more dates and taller men are seen as more powerful than short people. Taller people only have an advantage over smaller people, not over average people when it comes to dating.

Does weight matter?

Overweight people are more likely to be prejudiced, less likely to get dates and more likely to have low self-esteem than slim people. Being overweight is not concealable and people perceive this as being controllable. Because of this there are a lot of negative attitudes toward fat people. Fat people are seen as sad, lazy, unattractive and powerless. Prejudice against fat people is learned at an early age. Fat children are often rejected by their peers. When someone’s weight is seen as uncontrollable, this person is viewed less negatively than other fat people. Because of the negative attitudes towards them, fat people are more likely to experience depression and low self-esteem than thinner people. Also, people can get even more fatter because of the negative attitudes towards them, because they start overeating. Overweight people are also less likely to be hired and receive lower salaries. They also were less likely to be promoted and less preferred as co-workers.