Health Sciences 2711A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Political Correctness, Implicit Stereotype, Ageism

• School: Western University
• Department: Health Sciences
• Course: Health Sciences 2711A/B
• Professor: Marie Savundranayagam

Document Summary

The language of ageism: why we need to use words carefully. Examine the specific language that is used to communicate attitudes and perceptions of aging and older adults. Conducted a qualitative study of a twitter assignment for 236 students participating in a senior mentoring program. Found that 12% of the tweets contained discriminatory language. 8 broad themes describing language based age discrimination: assumptions and judgements, older people as different, uncharacteristic characteristics, old as negative, young as positive, infantilization, internalized ageism, internalized microaggression. Language of ageism is rooted in both explicit actions and implicit attitudes which make it highly complex and difficult to identify. Ageism in the form of pervasive negative attitudes about older people is widely accepted and normative for most cultures. Evidence of ageism can be found on a macro level (antiaging beauty campaigns: micro level (everyday language incorporating subtle expressions of contempt and derogatory remarks about aging and older people.