Stereotype Threat Lowers Older Adults' Self-Reported Hearing Abilities

Abstract

Background: Although stereotype threat is a well-documented phenomenon, previous studies examining it in older adults have almost exclusively focused on objective cognitive outcomes. Considerably less attention has been paid to the impact of stereotype threat on older adults' subjective assessments of their own abilities or to the impact of stereotype threat in noncognitive domains. Objective: Older adults are stereotyped as having experienced not only cognitive declines, but physical declines as well. The current study tested the prediction that stereotype threat can negatively influence older adults' subjective hearing abilities. Methods: To test this, 115 adults (mean age 50.03 years, range 41-67) read either a positive or negative description about how aging affects hearing. All participants then answered a questionnaire in which they assessed their own hearing abilities. Results: The impact of stereotype threat on self-reported hearing was moderated by chronological age. Participants in their 40s and early 50s were unaffected by the stereotype threat manipulation. In contrast, participants in their late 50s and 60s rated their hearing as being subjectively worse when under stereotype threat. Conclusion: The current study provides a clear demonstration that stereotype threat negatively impacts older adults' subjective assessments of their own abilities. It is also the first study to demonstrate an effect of stereotype threat within the domain of hearing. These results have important implications for researchers investigating age-related hearing decline. Stereotype threat can lead to overestimation of the prevalence of age-related hearing decline. It can also serve as a confounding variable when examining the psychosocial correlates of hearing loss. Because of this, researchers studying age-related hearing loss should aim to provide a stereotype threat-free testing environment and also include assessments of stereotype threat within their studies.

A Potential Bias in Subjective Ratings of Mental Effort

“…Mturk is a crowdsourcing website where anonymous online workers complete tasks on the Internet. Mturk has been shown to be a reliable tool for conducting research in psychology (Buhrmester, Kwang, & Gosling, 2011;Crump, McDonnell, & Gureckis, 2013) and also audiology (Barber & Lee, 2015;Singh, Lau, & Pichora-Fuller, 2015). Using Mturk profile controls, the surveys were only available to workers at least 18 years old and living in the United States.…”

“…Another potential design limitation is the use of crowdsourcing. Although crowdsourcing has been shown to be a valid and reliable data collection tool used in psychology (Buhrmester et al, 2011;Crump et al, 2013) and audiology (Barber & Lee, 2015;Singh et al, 2015), by posting surveys online, we lose some degree of experimental control. We must trust the integrity of the data because data collection was not directly supervised.…”

An Examination of Age-Based Stereotype Threat About Cognitive Decline

“…Furthermore, because negative stereotypes about aging are not limited to the cognitive domain (e.g., Chan et al, 2012; Kornadt, Meissner, & Rothermund, in press) neither are older adults’ stereotype-threat effects. Stereotype threat can also impair older adults’ grip strength and persistence (Swift, Lamont, & Abrams, 2012), their self-reported hearing abilities (Barber & Lee, 2016), and their driving abilities (Joanisse, Gagnon, & Voloaca, 2013; Lambert et al, 2015).…”

Barriers to help-seeking for memory problems in older adults

“…Seeking help for memory concerns may also lead to diagnosis of previously undiagnosed hearing impairments. While this may on the surface seem like a positive outcome, diagnosis of hearing impairment often leads to depression and anxiety due to self-perceptions and stereotype threat [32][33][34][35] which may be part of the reticence toward help-seeking from physicians. There is also the distinct possibility that the actual association between hearing loss and memory decline in later life may be driving this relationship [25,36,37].…”