Ageing (Part 2)
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Author: Yasser Anathallee
Published on: October 3, 2000
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Page 1
As mentionned last week, we will now have a look at the myths currently considered
existing in people's minds concerning ageing.
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Myths and stereotypes
Robert Butler (1975) coined the word "ageism" to refer to a "process of systematic
stereotyping of, and discrimination against people because they are old, just as
racism and sexism accomplish this with skin colour and gender". According to
Butler, ageism involves a wide range of phenomena including stereotypes and myths,
outright disdain and dislike or simply avoidance of contact.
Tranquillity myth:
A time of relative peace when people can relax and enjoy the fruits o their lifetime's
labour.
Inevitability myth; this paints a more negative picture of old age:
· All older people are similar · Ageing involves various irreversible illnesses (mental
or physical) · A fixed state of mind · Shrinking capacities · As aged person is ipso
facto, rigid, unchangeable, sterile, and dependent (Saul, 1974).
Neugarten and Hagestad (1976): "Individuals develop a mental map of the lifecycle,
they anticipate that certain events will occur at certain times, and they internalise a
social clock that tells them whether they are on or off time".
Often a person's awareness of their own ageing comes from someone else's
unexpected comment or action. E.g. a university lecturer first realised his ageing (at
55) when a young woman offered him a seat in a crowded tram (Vischer, 1966).
Ageing may be perceived by oneself differently from other people. Keller et al.
(1989) reported that about ½ of their sample of North Americans over 70 years
considered themselves to be "middle-aged".
"Chronological age" v/s "Social age"
From midlife onwards, a number of factors can act to separate a person's awareness
of his age: chronological and social.
- Improved health and greater aspirations to health
- Prolonged youthfulness
- Longer survival of parents (who may require care from their 'middle-aged' children)
- Accelerating pace of social change which may leave middle-aged employees' skills
redundant while they are still youthful.
"Social image" v/s "Self image"
A number of psychological processes add to the divergence of social image from self
image with ageing: - Stereotyping - Self-stereotyping - Self-enhancement
These affect perceptions, beliefs and communication between older and younger
people.
Stereotyping
This is the blanket assignment of a specific set of supposed features to all members
of a social category (Billig, 1985). These features can be evaluated - positively -
negatively - compassionately This leads to selective expectation, perception and
memory for these supposed features and the filtering out of others, e.g. - faulty
perceptions of individuals - inappropriate treatments
Self-stereotyping
Older people may have held negative stereotypes of the elderly when they were
young. If they continue to hold them as they age themselves, they may become prey
to self-stereotyping and a negative self-image (Oswald, 1991). They may:
misattribute illness or cognitive symptoms to normal ageing process
- underestimate their own capacities to function or to reacquire normal <img>
function (Gray, 1983)
- under-report their symptoms of illness, accepting them as normal features of ageing
(Twinning, 1988).
Self-enhancement
Those elderly who do not experience ill health and disability they stereotypically expect
as normal in old age may come to see themselves as unusually youthful exceptions
(Keller et al. 1992, Stokes, 1992)
When does one attain old age? Ageing is a highly individual experience. Chronological
age may differ from a person's functional age. Age related changes occur at different
rates for different persons. In our country, mandatory retirement fixes "old age" at 60
years. Many authors feel that fixing mandatory retirement at 60 years is an
unsatisfactory, arbitrary requirement for four reasons:
1) Age-related changes within any one individual can differ greatly. For instance,
intelligence and memory change in a complex manner rather than generalized declines.
2) Age-related changes differ greatly from one individual to another in the same manner
as each person differs from one another while moving from infancy to maturity.
3) No sharp differences occur either physically or psychologically when a person
reaches 65 years of age. Absolutely no clinical evidence exists for selecting this
chronological age as a retirement age.
4) Some impairments and deficiencies do occur as a person ages, but the person often
finds ways of adjusting and compensating.
Most older adults are not in poor health. Physiological, sensory, emotional, and physical
changes do occur, but the human body and a person's ingenious method of
compensation often allows the older person to successfully function in today's complex
world.
References:
§ Davey B (1995) Birth to Old Age, Open University Press. 10:164-166
§ Bland R (1996) Developing Services for Older People and Their Families, Jessica
Kingsley Publishers, London. 1:21
§ Bearley CP (1982) Risk and Ageing, Routledge and Kegan Paul. 1:8
§ Aitken V and Jellicoe H (1996) Behavioural Sciences for Health Professionals, WB
Saunders. 14:144
§ Henderson GE (1997) The Social Medicine Reader. 170
§ http://userwebs.cth.com.au/~gcutts/CVS/communication.htm
§ http://www.healthandage.com/edu/primer/primer3.htm
§ http://www.ageing.org/research/why.html#proc
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Ageing (Part 2)
