Using an Internet Activity to Enhance Students' Awareness of Age Bias in Social Perceptions

Seeking to extend curricula in a Psychology of Aging course, an online Internet test that assesses user's implicit attitudes was used as part of a learning activity to enhance students' awareness of age-bias in social perceptions. A pretest-posttest methodology examined the efficacy of this learning activity in three separate investigations. Overall, results suggest the learning activity increases students' awareness of cognitive biases in their perceptions of others. Further, self-enhancement motivation and alliance with a group that has suffered prejudice or discrimination were found to mediate bias ratings. The need to recognize age as a diversity issue and promote positive representations of older adults is discussed.