1. John G. Conway, University of Florida Kate A. Ratliff, University of Florida Implicit Associations Between The Elderly and Warmth Moderate the Effect of Target Age and Gender on Impression Formation Overview and Background Targets who behave in counter-stereotypical ways are generally viewed negatively (Rudman & Fairchild, 2004). Prior research shows that women who violate prescriptive norms of kindness and warmth are devalued (Brescoll and Uhlmann, 2008). Similar prescriptive norms exist for the elderly who can be seen as “perfect grandparents” or “patriarchs/matriarchs” (Hummert, Garstka, Shaner, & Strahm, 1994). Although there is little research regarding impressions of older people who behave in counter-stereotypical ways, we might expect that violating the norm that older people are warm and kind (Kite et al., 2005) would also lead to negative impressions. This research focuses on the additive effects of age and gender stereotypes, examining the “double jeopardy” that older women often experience. Based on their sex and age, older women should be expected to be warm, and should be judged more harshly than older men, younger men, or younger women when they violate those expectations. Hypothesis Attitudes towards a female target who is depicted as being rude to a coworker will be more negative than attitudes toward a male target who is depicted as being rude to a coworker. Attitudes towards an older target who is depicted as being rude to a coworker will be more negative than attitudes toward a younger target who is depicted as being rude to a coworker. Attitudes toward an older, female target who is depicted as being rude to a coworker should be more negative than toward any other target. Implicit stereotypes will moderate the effect of target age and gender on attitudes toward the target such that participants who more strongly associate old + warm (relative to young + warm) will be more negative toward the older women who is depicted as being rude to a coworker than will participants who less strongly associate old + warm (relative to young + warm). Hypothesis were tested using a regression analysis in which attitudes toward the target were predicted by the target's age (1 = young, 2 = old), gender (1 = male, 2 = female), implicit warm + old stereotypes, and all interactions between independent variables. There was no significant main effect of target’s age, b = -0.16, β = -.10, SE =.21, p =.47, or target’s gender, b = -0.40, β =.22, SE = -.25, p =.64. There was, however, a significant three-way interaction between target’s age, target’s gender, and participants’ implicit old + warm stereotype, b = -0.77, β = -.95, SE =.34, p =.03. The results by gender are below. Male Target When the target was male, there was no significant main effect of target’s age, b = 0.05, β =.03, SE =.10, p =.60, and there was no interaction between target’s age and participants’ implicit old + warm stereotype, b = -0.03, β = -.026, SE =.23, p =.90. Female Target When the target was female, there was a significant main effect of target’s age, b = 0.26, β =.17, SE =.09, p =.01, and participants’ implicit old + warm stereotype; however, these results were qualified by a significant interaction between target age and participant implicit old + warm stereotype. For those participants in the condition in which the target was a younger woman, implicit old + warm stereotype were positively related to evaluations of the target, b =.48, β =.24, SE =.18, p =.01. For those participants in the condition in which the target was an older woman, implicit old + warm stereotypes were negatively (but not significantly) related to evaluations of the target, b = -.32, β =.24, SE =.18, p =.08. Discussion Target age, target gender, and strength of participants' implicit old + warm stereotypes interacted to predict attitudes toward a target who behaved unkindly (a violation of the prescriptive norm for women and older people). Male targets were not evaluated differently based on their age (old or young) or on participants' old + warm stereotypes. An older female target who was unkind to a coworker, however, was evaluated more negatively than a younger female target who was unkind to a coworker, and this difference increased to the extent that participants held an implicit old + warm stereotype. Put another way, the stronger a person’s expectation for elderly people to behave kindly, the more negatively they evaluate a person who violates that expectation -- especially if they are a woman. These results support the existing literature showing that women and men face shifting standards as they age. Women who violate an old + warm stereotype are disproportionally devalued when compared to their male counterparts. This pattern is congruent with existing literature on norm violation. Women who violate expectations, and elderly people who violate expectations, experience more backlash than their younger, male counterparts. Older women experience a "double jeopardy” where they are evaluated more negatively than either women or the elderly alone. References Brescoll V. L., Uhlmann E. L. (2008). Can an angry woman get ahead? Status conferral, gender, and expression of emotion in the workplace. Psychological Science, 19, 268–275 Greenwald, A. G., McGhee, D. E., & Schwartz, J. K. L. (1998). Measuring individual differences in implicit cognition: The Implicit Association Test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1464-1480 Hummert, M. L., Garstka, T. A., Shaner, J. L. & Strahm, S. (1994). Stereotypes of the elderly held by young, middle-aged, and elderly adults. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 49, 240–249 Kite, M. E., Stockdale, G. D., Whitley, B. E. & Johnson, B. T. (2005). Attitudes toward younger and older adults: An updated meta-analytic review. Journal of Social Issues, 61, 242–262 Nosek, B. A. (2005). Moderators of the relationship between implicit and explicit evaluation. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 134, 565-584. doi: 10.1037/0096-3445.134.4.565 Rudman, L.A., & Fairchild, K. (2004). Reactions to counter- stereotypic behavior: The role of backlash in cultural stereotype maintenance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87, 157– 176 Method Participants: 573 participants volunteered at the Project Implicit Website (https://implicit.harvard.edu; Nosek, 2005). Manipulation: Participants read a short story about a workplace in which an anonymous employee complained about a coworker’s hostility (violation of politeness norm). The target was described as being nearing retirement age (older-target condition) or one of the younger members of the department (younger- target condition). The target’s name was Christine (female-target condition) or Chris (male-target condition) Moderator: Implicit Stereotypes: Participants completed an Implicit Association Test (IAT; Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998) measuring their implicit old + warm stereotypes. Pictures of faces represented the categories “Old” and “Young” and words represented the categories “Warm” and “Cold” Stimuli representing warm personality characteristics were distant, cold, mean, stony, detached, icy; stimuli representing warm personality characteristics were loving, warm, sincere, heartfelt, tender and affectionate. Dependent Measure: Attitudes towards a Target Individual: Attitudes towards the target were measured using an eight-item scale. Participants rated their attitude by answering questions such as “How much do you like Chris/Christine” on a seven point scale ranging from “dislike very much” (-3) to “like very much (3). Additional items rated the target on other evaluative dimensions: unpleasant/pleasant, unfriendly/friendly, unlikeable/ likeable, unpopular/popular, unintelligent/intelligent, bad/good, and unkind/kind. Results Attitudes towards the target