Dr. Alison Chasteen

RESEARCH

Despite the fact that Canadians are living longer now than ever before, age prejudice and discrimination is still common. The stereotypes that seniors face have been well-documented, but what remains unknown is the effect of these stereotypes on older people themselves. Alison Chasteen investigates the effects of aging stereotypes on older adults. She and her colleagues have found that when seniors are concerned that others are stereotyping them, they show worsened memory performance. Her current work is aimed at developing techniques older adults can use to protect themselves against the negative effects of aging stereotypes. In related research, Dr. Chasteen examines what drives young adults' biases toward aging and older people. She has found that getting young people to think about becoming old themselves actually worsens their views when they strongly value youth. More recent work has focused on understanding what happens when young adults are asked to think about growing older.