IAT and Ageism

1
IAT and Ageism

• Becky Nixon and Alexis Rose
• Hanover College
• Fall 2005

2
Previous Research

• IAT
• Greenwald and McGhee (1998)
• found black to be negative and white to be
  positive (white participants)

• Ageism
• Hought (2002)
• used ASD on first-year and third-year med
  students
• interest in geriatrics decreased

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Hypothesis

• We predict that our participants already have
  implicit associations towards the elderly
  therefore an old face paired with a positive word
  will have a slower reaction time than an old face
  paired with a negative word.

4
Methods

• Participants
• 13 participants all intro psych volunteers
• 12 female, 1 male
• All Caucasian
• Ages 18-21
• Materials
• Gateway Computer, LCD monitors
• Internet Explorer, Java

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Design

• Condition 1
• Positive words press d, negative words press
  k
• Condition 2
• Old faces press k, young faces press d
• Condition 3
• Young faces/positive words d
• Old faces/negative words k
• Condition 4
• Old faces press d, young faces press k
• Condition 5
• Young faces/negative words d
• Old faces/positive words k

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FACES
http//psych.hanover.edu/JavaTest/Cognition/Cognit
ion/Images/IATFaces/
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WORDS

• Positive
• WONDERFUL
• LIBERATION
• LAUGHTER

• Negative
• LOAD
• SUPRESSION
• HAMPER

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Accuracy

• The mean of young faces and negative words paired
  was 13.23 percent, (SD 20.06), the mean of
  young faces and positive words was 94.15 percent,
  (SD 10.90), t(12) 13.21, p lt .001
• The mean of old faces and negative words was
  88.69 percent, (SD 14.75), the mean of old
  faces and positive was 14.92 percent, (SD
  25.61), t(12) 8.01, p lt .001

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Reaction Time

• The mean of young faces and negative words was
  1460.50 ms, (SD 913.48), the mean of young
  faces and positive words was 1146.43 ms, (SD
  316.38), t(12) 1017, p .265
• The mean of old faces and positive was 1921.58
  ms, (SD 818.68), the mean of old faces and
  negative words was 1347.11 ms, (SD 414.38),
  t(12) 2.39, p .035

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Discussion

• Baby-boomers retiring soon
• Doctors arent interested in this field, when
  needed the most
• Not enough to meet growing geriatric needs
• Elderly viewed as burden
• Social Security running out
• Baby-boomers will be seen as a burden if not
  modified

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Limitations

• Ugly faces
• One participant reported she felt negatively
  towards all faces because of appearance
• Confused participants
• Forgot which letter was paired with which
  face/word
• More detailed directions
• Difficult words (e.g. saddle, encumber,
  emancipation)
• Square problem-wrong answers, more data needed

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Future Research

• Control for conditions with attractive faces
• Attractive elderly vs. sick elderly appearance
• Change in Social Securityeffect on ageism?