Examples Of Prescriptive Ageism
This study supports a prescriptive theory to ageism, primarily assuming violators to be younger people and victims to be elderly people. It describes how opinions about ageism have been traditionally geared towards descriptive stereotypes concerning what elderly people supposively are and introduces the contrasting prescriptive stereotypes that strive to dictate how the elderly should be. This article includes six studies, which tested numerous issues, using hypothetical (vignette) experiments and replicated behavioral interactions. One important finding of the studies showed that the younger participants resented elder violators of prescriptive stereotypes more than the middle-aged and older study participants did. A second finding was that
younger participants were most opposing of older targets—rewarding older people the most for instruction obedience and disciplining them most for non-adherence*. I learned that ageist prescriptions, which focus on the elderly, are mostly upheld by younger people and that elderly people often shift from receiving pity to either reward or prescriptive resentment. I also learned that, in general, younger people care less about whether older people abide by prescriptions than they do younger people.
younger participants were most opposing of older targets—rewarding older people the most for instruction obedience and disciplining them most for non-adherence*. I learned that ageist prescriptions, which focus on the elderly, are mostly upheld by younger people and that elderly people often shift from receiving pity to either reward or prescriptive resentment. I also learned that, in general, younger people care less about whether older people abide by prescriptions than they do younger people.