Poster Number
054
Session Title
Gender, Ethnicity, and Bias
College
College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Psychology
Abstract
Recently, researchers have identified two distinct forms of ageism: benevolent ageism, in which older people are patronized or pitied, and hostile ageism, in which older people are devalued. Raymer et al. (2017) found that young adults also can also be targets of negative, age-related attitudes; however, this topic is relatively unexplored. Thus, this study examined how young adults’ ageist attitudes related to charitable decisions for young and senior adult recipients. It was hypothesized that hostile ageism would decrease donations to senior adults (SA), while benevolent ageism would increase donations to SA and predicted the same pattern regarding youth-ageism donations for young adults (YA). Participants were given the task of dividing money between SA and YA donation recipients; they also completed scales to assess benevolent and hostile ageism. To assess youth-ageism, the ageism scale was modified to refer to common stereotypes about YA. Average donation amounts revealed a bias towards YA. Ageist reasoning for donation choices predicted higher donation amounts for a YA recipient and less for a SA recipient. Hostile ageism predicted all other forms of ageism. Familiarity with SA in the form of volunteer work and having African American ethnicity predicted higher benevolent ageism. In conclusion, young adults favored their age group when making donation decisions. The relationship between empathy and Ambivalent Ageism is discussed. These findings provide new insight into youth-ageism.
Honors Thesis Committee
Donna Nelson, Ph.D.; Merry Sleigh, Ph.D.; and Darren Ritzer, Ph.D.
Previously Presented/Performed?
Southeastern Psychological Association (SEPA) Annual Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, April 2020; Sixth Annual Showcase of Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavors (SOURCE), Winthrop University, April 2020
Start Date
24-4-2020 12:00 AM
Ambivalent Ageism, Familiarity, and Empathy as Predictors of Charitable Donation Decisions
Recently, researchers have identified two distinct forms of ageism: benevolent ageism, in which older people are patronized or pitied, and hostile ageism, in which older people are devalued. Raymer et al. (2017) found that young adults also can also be targets of negative, age-related attitudes; however, this topic is relatively unexplored. Thus, this study examined how young adults’ ageist attitudes related to charitable decisions for young and senior adult recipients. It was hypothesized that hostile ageism would decrease donations to senior adults (SA), while benevolent ageism would increase donations to SA and predicted the same pattern regarding youth-ageism donations for young adults (YA). Participants were given the task of dividing money between SA and YA donation recipients; they also completed scales to assess benevolent and hostile ageism. To assess youth-ageism, the ageism scale was modified to refer to common stereotypes about YA. Average donation amounts revealed a bias towards YA. Ageist reasoning for donation choices predicted higher donation amounts for a YA recipient and less for a SA recipient. Hostile ageism predicted all other forms of ageism. Familiarity with SA in the form of volunteer work and having African American ethnicity predicted higher benevolent ageism. In conclusion, young adults favored their age group when making donation decisions. The relationship between empathy and Ambivalent Ageism is discussed. These findings provide new insight into youth-ageism.
