1 4 ageism&cooperation2013 july7 - eth z · 2014-11-12 · july, 2013. ageism: behavior...
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Ageism & Cooperation
Eric Schniter & Timothy ShieldsEconomic Science InstituteChapman University, USA
July, 2013
Ageism: behavior affected by age stereotypes.Stereotypes: “beliefs about the personal attributes of a social group” (Ashmore & Del Boca, 1981).
Ageism
Seen as a “socially undesirable disease” (Butler, 1989)) causing: emotional distress (Levy, Ashman, & Dror, 1999‐2000), physiological distress (Levy, Hausdorff, Hencke, & Wei, 2000).
Imposes costs on firms and society (PIU, 2000; Palmore, 2005). Medicare and special programs targeting older people estimated to cost $300 billion/yr.
Opportunity and litigation costs of employment discrimination against older workers estimated at $60 billion/yr.
• Most studies about stereotypes and discrimination provide virtually no evidence about stereotype accuracy (see reviews by: Ryan, 2002; Jussim, 2012).
• Age discriminant cooperative behaviors have been demonstrated (Holm & Nystedt, 2005, Charness & Villeval, 2009). However, intergenerational experiments have not tested the link between age‐based beliefs about cooperation and age discriminant cooperative behaviors.
Ageism & Cooperation Experiment: DesignParticipants: n=20 older adults (>50), n=20 younger adults (<25)
Phase 1 (≈60min):– Guess game (2X3)– Bluff‐Challenge game (2X3X6)
Feedback
Phase 2: (repeat of Phase 1)Feedback & Payment (≈$37, SD=9.52).
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Predictions:
• Stereotypes about age groups are “shared”, likely because consensual stereotypes provide practical “wisdom of crowds”.
• Out‐groups are stereotyped as relatively different• Younger, not older, adults have extreme out‐group stereotypes
• Relatively different and extreme stereotypes about the out‐group are inaccurate, costly, and lead to relatively different or extreme behavior with the out‐group that is costly.
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Bluff Propensity(SE) Challenge Propensity (SE)
Younger Adults' Stereotypes Older Adults' Stereotypes
Stereotypes about age groups are “shared”? YesAlways100%
~
~Never 0%
Consensual stereotypes provide “wisdom of crowds”?
Consensual stereotypes @ younger adults’ uncooperativeness were 15.4% off ≈ “near misses” Consensual stereotypes @ older adults were 7.9% off ≈ “accurate”
– Yes, 70% of personal stereotypes about younger adultsuncooperativeness were inferior.
– Yes, 70% of personal stereotypes about older adults uncooperativeness were inferior.
Different and extreme stereotypes about out‐groups?
Yes, compared to their in‐groups, both younger and older adults stereotype the out‐group as relatively different.
Yes, only younger adults make relatively extreme stereotypes about the out‐group.
different stereotypes@ out‐group inaccurate, costly, correlated with relatively different & costly behavior against out‐group?inaccuracy:(no) correlated with stereotype accuracy of out‐group’s bluff propensity: R2=.101, F(1 ,38)= 4.286, p=.045, (no) correlated with stereotype accuracy of out‐group’s challenge propensity: R2=.557, F(1 ,38)= 47.818, p<.001 cost:(no) marginally sig. correlation with earnings from out‐group’s bluff stereotype: R2=.081, F(1,38)= 3.365, p=.074, (no) correlated with earnings from out‐group’s challenge stereotype:R2=.294, F(1,38)= 15.861, p<.001correlated with relatively different behavior & with costly behavior:diff bluff stereotypes & different challenges against out (yes) β=‐.426, R2=.182, F(1,36)= 7.992, p=.008; (cost: no) β=.540, R2=.292, F(1,38)= 15.663, p<.001diff challenge stereotypes & diff bluffs against out (marginal) β=.308, R2=.095, F(1,32)= 3.357, p=.076; (cost: no) β=.597, R2=.356, F(1,38)= 21.044, p<.001
extreme stereotypes@ out‐group inaccurate, costly, correlated with relatively extreme & costly behavior against out‐group?inaccuracy: (yes) older adults more extreme stereotypes were more inaccurate [bluff] β=‐.970, R2=.941 F(1,18)= 284.724, p<.001 [challenge] β=‐.523, R2=.273 F(1,18)= 6.773, p=.002; (no) younger adults’ more extreme bluff stereotypes not correlated, more extreme challenge stereotypes more accurate: β=.509, R2=.259, F(1,18)= 6.291, p=.022cost: (yes) older adults more extreme bluff stereotypes earned lessβ=.891, R2=.794, F(1,18)= 69.168, p<.001(no) younger adults more extreme challenge stereotypes earned moreβ=‐.481, R2=.231, F(1,18)= 5.420, p=.032correlated with relatively extreme behavior & with costly behavior:extreme bluff stereotypes & extreme challenges against out (no) β=.159, R2=.025, F(1,37)= 0.956, p=.335; (cost: no) β=‐.099, R2=.010, F(1,38)= 0.373, p=.545; extreme challenge stereotypes & extreme bluffs against out (no) β=.010, R2=.000, F(1,37)= 0.004, p=.953; (cost: no) β=‐.229, R2=.052, F(1,38)= 2.104, p=.155
Discussion:
• Consensual stereotypes about age groups are “shared”, likely because they provide practical “wisdom of crowds”.
• Out‐groups were consistently stereotyped as relatively different and more uncooperative than observed to be.
• While younger adults earned more by acting uncooperatively with older adults ≈“statistical” discrimination, older adults earned less by acting relatively cooperative with younger adults (despite beliefs) ≈“taste based” discrimination.
• Though age stereotypes are fairly accurate, age‐based discrimination is not purely “statistical”, it is also affected by tastes. Tastes have evolutionary and institutional histories.
(source: NIA 2012)
Intergenerational cooperation is becoming increasingly important in an aging society.
Bluff & Challenge Stereotypes
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Bluff Propensity(SE) Challenge Propensity (SE)
Younger Adults' Stereotypes Older Adults' Stereotypes
Actual Bluff & Challenge Behavior
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Bluff Propensity(SE) Challenge Propensity (SE)
Against Younger Adults Against Older Adults
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