Age and forgetfulness: managing perceivers' impressions of targets' capability

Two experiments investigated the effect of positive endorsement on perceivers' impressions of young and old female targets. In Experiment 1, 160 young adult perceivers listened to a tape of a young or old forgetful target being interviewed for a volunteer job. They read a nonelaborative or elaborative reference letter for the target either before or after listening to the tape. Perceivers who read the elaborative letter after listening to the tape rated themselves as more likely to assign tasks to both young and old targets and had a higher general capability opinion of old targets. In Experiment 2, 84 older adult perceivers read an elaborative letter and listened to one of the same taped interviews. Reading the letter after the tape resulted in higher task ratings than reading it before the tape, but letter order had no effect on general capability ratings. Results are discussed in terms of impression management.