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Age-related priming effects in social judgments
T M Hess1, K A McGee, S M Woodburn
1Department of Psychology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh 27695-7801, USA. hess@poe.coe.ncsu.edu
Psychology and Aging
|April 9, 1998
Summary
Older adults show increased susceptibility to judgment biases from accessible information due to declines in controlled processing. Younger adults are more adept at correcting for this influence, especially with contextual cues.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Adult Development
Background:
- Accessible information can influence social judgments.
- Age-related changes in cognitive processing may affect susceptibility to biases.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate age differences in the impact of accessible trait information on impression formation.
- To examine how controlled processing efficiency relates to judgment biases across adulthood.
Main Methods:
- Two experiments involving different-aged adults making impression judgments.
- Assessing assimilation of judgments to previously activated (primed) trait constructs.
- Examining the role of contextual cues in moderating bias.
Main Results:
- Older adults showed greater assimilation of judgments to primed traits, indicating bias.
- Younger adults demonstrated more awareness and correction of primed information's influence.
- Distinctive contextual cues enhanced younger adults' ability to correct for bias.
Conclusions:
- Age-related declines in controlled processing increase susceptibility to judgment biases in older adults.
- Younger adults possess more effective metacognitive strategies to mitigate such biases.
- Contextual information plays a crucial role in modulating the impact of accessible information on social cognition.