Open-ended attributions for the performance of the elderly

The present study explored open-ended attributions for the success and failure of relatively younger and older men in social and academic situations using a between-subjects design. Attributions were collected from 109 college students and were coded using the Elig and Frieze scheme. Results showed that respondents were more likely to make attributions that combined age with other attributional categories (age-related attributions) than attributions solely to target's age. And, they made more ability-task interaction than ability attributions. Moreover, both attributions were as likely to be made for the elderly adult's success as his failure. Finally, differences also emerged in results from the stability dimension and those for age-related and ability-task attributions indicating that these parameters should be assessed independently in future research.