Improving attitudes regarding the elderly population: the effects of information and reinforcement for change.
OBJECTIVE
Altering negative attitudes associated with ageism may be possible by giving people accurate information about older people in conjunction with reinforcement for change.


METHODS
Ninety-nine college students (35 men, 63 women; mean age = 20 years, SD = 2.78) participated in one of three groups: information only, information plus an innocuous discussion group, and information plus a reinforcement-to-change discussion group. The participants' attitudes toward elderly people were measured before, immediately after the intervention, and at a one-month follow-up. Changes in attitudes across groups and time were analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and t tests.


RESULTS
Information alone produced initial improvements in attitudes in all groups; however, only the group members who received additional reinforcement for change maintained positive attitude changes at one-month follow-up.


CONCLUSIONS
This study supports the premise that negative attitudes toward older people are amendable; however, the new attitude may be lost without reinforcement for change.
Ragan
A M
AM
University of Medicine & Dentistry-New Jersey, 100 Metroplex Drive-Suite 200, Edison, NJ 08817, USA. raganam@cmhc.umdnj.edu
Bowen
A M
AM
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001290:Attitude; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D011287:Prejudice; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D012659:Semantic Differential