The Influence Of Token Status Induced Stereotype Threat On Memory Performance In Older Adults

Abstract

The purpose of the proposed research was to investigate how contextual features of a situation affect cognitive performance. Specifically, this research explored the role that a social characteristic of the testing situation, group composition, had on memory performance. The study tested older adults (N=72) between the ages of 65 and 75 who were evenly divided into three testing conditions. In the minority status condition, one older adult was tested with two younger adult confederates whereas in the majority status condition, older adults were tested with two similarly aged individuals. The third condition involved individualized testing. It was expected that older adults would experience stereotype threat in the minority status condition and that this would result in poorer performance on a memory task relative to those in the majority status and alone conditions. Contrary to expectations, memory performance did not significantly differ between the three conditions, providing no support for the hypothesis that group composition at testing would be related to stereotype threat . In addition, no evidence was found that the hypothesized moderators (stigma consciousness, value placed on memory) and mediators (anxiety, evaluation apprehension, strategy use) were related to threat-based effects.