Implicit Memory for Age Stereotypes

The study addressed two interrelated questions concerned with automatic or unconscious manifestations of age prejudice: (a) Is there greater implicit memory for adjectives associated with negative stereotypes about older people than for adjectives not associated with such stereotypes; and (b) Is this effect moderated by consciously held attitudes toward older people? Eighty people, classified as low or high in age prejudice, studied adjectives that were either consistent or inconsistent with negative stereotypes of older people. Later, participants were instructed to complete fragments of the adjectives with either one of the studied adjectives or a new adjective. The influence of controlled and of implicit memory on participants' performance was estimated. Implicit memory was greater for stereotype consistent than for stereotype inconsistent words. A simple effects analysis also disclosed that among high prejudice participants there was significantly more implicit memory for stereotype consistent than for stereotype inconsistent words.