An Examination into the ways Different Age groups Hold Stereotypical Views

Abstract

Introduction

Stereotyping is when generalisations are made about a social group. A prime example is when people say that all men are lazy despite this being a false perception people still perceive men to be lazy and quite often their views aren't easily altered. Stereotypes are usually formed through schemas; schemas are organised 'pockets' of information based on previous experiences. The experiences that the schemas are based on may be formed from what people have heard from others around them. They may also be due to the experience they have had with just one person out of a social group, these experiences are then applied to the entire social group and in that persons mind everyone is perceived to be the same.

Stangor and Lange (1994) defined a stereotype as a 'mental representation of a social group and its members.' The stereotype people hold will include the shared beliefs/views about personal qualities and traits. Stereotypes are generally negative views when applied to societies out groups and lead to discrimination and prejudice. Stereotyping occurs when stereotypes are put into action in society. Stereotyping is underlined by categorisation. Categorisation can lead to positive effects. In society people’s self-esteem can be enhanced because they can gain support from people categorised as similar to themselves. Stereotypes generally offer a way of quickly processing information related to both individuals and social groups. It is often over-generalised views and beliefs that lead to an overlook of variety and detail of individuals within a stereotyped group.

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Schemas are developed during life and are organised pockets that hold information about the world within long-term memory; Bower et al (1979) showed that people often hold similar schemas about everyday things such as a restaurant meal. Several people were asked to list the most important events related to having a meal in a restaurant. It was found that most included similar events such as sitting down, selecting food, ordering, eating, paying and leaving. This can be applied to stereotypes, if people hold similar information related to restaurants people are likely to hold similar views about other people, resulting ...

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Aim

Based on the work of Bartlett (1932) the aim of this experiment is to see whether age alters stereotypical views that people hold. Bartlett’s work showed that cultural expectations lead to changes in memory and the way people perceive others. I want to see if this is still true and see whether there is a clear division in stereotypical views across age ranges.

Hypothesis

Method

I will use 15 naive participants aged between 16 and 39yrs and 15 participants aged between 40 and 79 yrs, the participants I use will be selected by an opportunity sample as this will mean I can use anyone who happens to be in the area Each participant will be shown an identical vignette and asked to read it through. Once they have read it they will be asked to answer a series of questions that relate to the vignette and who/what sort of person they perceive the person in the vignette to be. The questions will help me to establish where stereotypes exist in relation to occupation. I am only interested in one of the questions, which is whether people think the employee is male or female. The other questions are to 'confuse ‘people so that the results they give are more realistic, this removes demand characteristics. By using naive participants my results will be less bias because people will be unaware of what we are doing and so they won’t conform and make their answers those that they think I am expecting.

The independent variable will be the age of the participant; I will split these into 16 - 59 years and 40 – 79 years. By splitting them into groups I will be able to see the differences in stereotyping that occur over age groups and whether views are changing. The dependent variable is the gender (male or female) that the participant will be able to choose after reading the vignette.

There are variables in my experiment that I am unable to control. Our young participants are all psychology students due to the situation and time at collecting our data. This means that some students may be aware of what we are doing and so the results may have a bias in them depending on whether participants wanted to help me and make sure I got the expected result or if they tried to produce errors in the results.

To record each participant's results I will use a tally system and 'hide' it from participants so that they aren't influenced by other people’s opinions. I will use independent measures because everyone was asked the same set of questions about the vignette in the same test conditions.

At the end of the experiment all participants will be given the same debriefing so that all participants are provided with detailed information about the study and to reduce any distress that they may have felt.

Apparatus

Standardised instructions
Identical Vignette for each participant to read
Standardised questions
Standardised de-briefing

Procedure

Results

Having carried out my experiment I am now able to compare what I have found out and see whter my results fit with my initial hypothesis. The table below shows my results in numerical form and the graph gives a simple view of what people have said.

Chi Squared Test

Chi squared =

Chi squared = 3.27 + 6.67 + 3.27 + 6.67

Chi squared = 19.88

Degrees of freedom = no. observed – 1

Degrees of freedom = 4 – 1

Degrees of freedom = 3

Using the below table and my chi squared value I am able to work out how significant my results are and are likely they are to happen by chance.

By following the significance level for 3 degrees of freedom I can see that the significance level for my results is •1%, from this I can say that my results are high likely (•99%) to happen by chance and are highly reliable. From this I can say that any information I gain from my results is true and if I carried out the same experiment again I am highly likely to get a very similar set of results

Vignette

Please read the following vignette through, and then answer each of the following questions out-loud. This will help me to find out whether job descriptions alter people’s opinions as to who a job is for and help me to find out whether they need to be changed so both sexes view the job in the same way.

A person has been offered a job, which offers high pay in return for long hours and the responsibility of 52 employees. This is a managerial position in a large successful, international company.

Do you think that they are:

American or British?
Old (40+) or Young (18 – 39)?
Male or female?
Married or Single?
University educated or Uneducated?
Blonde or Dark Haired?
Blue Eyed or Brown Eyed?
Short or Tall?

Thankyou for taking part, all your answers except the answer (2) are irrelevant, the answer to question (2) will help me to see whether different age groups hold different stereotypical views.