Attitudes toward Aging and Their Effects in Behavior

Attitudes have historically been a central focus of social psychological research due to their assumed importance in directing behavior. At its most basic level, an attitude can be defined as an evaluation of a stimulus as reflected in our affective, cognitive, and behavioral responses to it (Fiske & Taylor, 1991). The evaluation of someone or something and our subsequent response may reflect a relatively conscious process as the individual considers information about the attitude object and then decides on a specific response. Alternatively, the linkage between evaluation and behavior may be relatively automatic in nature due to repeated experiences of particular responses being associated with specific attitude objects (Bargh, 1997). The basis of attitudes is also varied, with evaluation reflecting direct or indirect experiences as well as cognitive constructions that may have a basis in reality. Of importance for the present chapter is the fact that attitudes often have a social basis, reflecting one’s past experiences within specific social, cultural, and historical contexts. A further factor of importance for our understanding of the relationship between attitudes and behavior relates to the fundamental nature of attitudes in the processing of information. Research has suggested that almost everything that we encounter has an evaluative component to it (e.g., Bargh et al., 1992). In addition, this evaluation occurs at a relatively early stage of processing with little demand on cognitive resources (e.g., Bargh et al., 1989). This primacy of evaluation and the fact that it may occur with little awareness on the part of the individual suggest a relatively powerful and potentially insidious influence on behavior. In the field of gerontology, research has focused on the extent to which attitudes regarding the aging process can be used to understand the social basis of older adults’ functioning. A traditional approach in the field has been to focus on societal attitudes regarding the aging process, with studies examining affective reactions, beliefs and knowledge, and specific behavioral responses. A common perspective in such studies is that culturally based attitudes about aging