Title: Stereotype embodiment theory - Wikipedia
Headings: Stereotype embodiment theory
Stereotype embodiment theory
Contents
Theoretical premises
Internalization of stereotypes across the life span
Unconscious operation of age stereotypes
Salience gain from self-relevance
Utilization of multiple pathways
History
References

Content: Although this theory was developed to explain the operation of age stereotypes across the lifespan, it may also explain how other types of self-stereotypes operate, such as race stereotypes among African Americans and gender stereotypes among women. Contents
1 Theoretical premises
1.1 Internalization of stereotypes across the life span
1.2 Unconscious operation of age stereotypes
1.3 Salience gain from self-relevance
1.4 Utilization of multiple pathways
2 History
3 References
Theoretical premises
Internalization of stereotypes across the life span
Age stereotypes are internalized starting in early childhood. This process of early internalization is facilitated by the lack of resistances that are usually present when stereotypes are relevant to the personal identity of those exposed to them. In North America and Europe, these stereotypes tend to be negative. This process continues on into early adulthood, where the acceptance and invocation of negative age stereotypes may represent short-term benefits in the form of greater social and economic resources being allocated to younger, rather than older, adults. Hence, younger adult workers tend to assume that older adult workers are less productive than their younger counterparts even when regular contact with older adult workers proves these assumptions inaccurate. Unconscious operation of age stereotypes
See also: Implicit stereotype
Age stereotypes have been shown to operate unconsciously. For instance, a 1990 study by Purdue and Gurtman demonstrated that the associations made by their college-aged participants between certain negative traits and old age had an "automatic" component, such that, when their participants were subliminally primed (i.e., presented with stimuli at speeds sufficient for perception, but not recognition) with the word "old", they made associations with negative traits significantly faster than when they were subliminally primed with the word "young". Unconscious operation of age stereotypes in older individuals was demonstrated for the first time by Levy (1996) in an experimental study that showed age stereotypes can impact memory of older individuals.