The Influence Of Sense Of Control On Self-stereotyping In The Elderly And Its Mechanis

The process by which older adults incorporate aging stereotypes into their selfconcept is called as self-stereotyping.Positive self-stereotyping in older adults has a positive effect on physical and mental health while negative self-stereotyping may damage physical and mental health.Therefore,it is particularly important to explore the factors related to the self-stereotyping of older adults.The sense of control is an important factor.Older adults face more negative events than younger adults as they get older,such as decreased physical and cognitive function and loss of a partner,which would make the sense of control in older adults at a low level.According to compensatory control theory,humans have developed a compensatory psychological and perceptual system to maintain a sense of order and structure when the sense of control decreases or disappears.A model of group-based control argues that when an individual lacks of control,the individual compensates by affirming the social self,acting more pro-ingroup behaviors and aligning with ingroup norms.And the generation of self-stereotyping will give self-meaning and provide a sense of structure in the social environment.However,no research has focused on the effect of lack of control on self-stereotyping.Therefore,this dissertation focused on the elderly population and explored the relationship between the sense of control and the self-stereotyping of older adults.In addition,according to the progressive model of self-stigma and the theory of attitude change,this dissertation suggested that the process of self-stereotyping should include three stages: cognitive bias,explicit identification and implicit internalization.Therefore,this dissertation also explored the effect and mechanism of lack of control on the three stages of self-stereotyping.The research in this dissertation consisted of three sections,the first section consisted of two studies to explore the relationship between sense of control and negative selfstereotyping in older adults.Study 1 used a questionnaire to measure the sense of control and self-stereotyping of older adults.The results found that the level of control of older adults was related to age,education level,monthly income,self-rated health and life satisfaction.The level of self-stereotyping of older adults was related to educational level,monthly income,self-rated health and life satisfaction.After controlling for other related variables,older adults’ sense of control was still significantly correlated with the level of self-stereotyping.In Study 2,older adults’ sense of control and negative self-stereotyping levels were measured by questionnaire every six months,three times in total.The results showed that sense of control at time 1 significantly predicted self-stereotyping at time 2,sense of control at time 2 significantly predicted self-stereotyping at time 3,and selfstereotyping at time 1 significantly predicted sense of control at time 2,but selfstereotyping at time 2 did not significantly predict sense of control at time 3.The second section included three experimental studies to examine the effects and mechanisms of lack of control on the three stages of self-stereotyping in older adults.Study 3 mainly examined whether the lack of control can cause older adults’ attentional bias to the age stereotypes vocabulary.In this study,the sense of control of older adults was manipulated through a questionnaire method and then the level of need for structure was measured.The dot-prob task was used to measure the attentional bias of older adults to the age stereotypes vocabulary.The results showed that older adults in the condition of lack of control had an attentional bias towards the age stereotypes vocabulary,and need for structure played a mediating role.Study 4 mainly focused on the effect of lack of control on explicit self-stereotyping and its mediating and moderating mechanisms.In this study,recall paradigm was used to manipulate the level of sense of control,and the level of self-stereotyping was represented by mean square difference scores of self and group scores.It was found that lack of control was associated with high levels of negative self-stereotyping in older adults,and need for structure could explain this effect,but selfesteem did not moderate this relationship pattern.Study 5 mainly explored the effect of lack of control on implicit self-stereotyping in old adults and its mediating and moderating mechanisms.This study manipulated older adults’ levels of control through a game task,and then used a one-category implicit association test to measure older adults’ implicit self-stereotyping.It was found that the positive bias of implicit self-stereotyping were attenuated among older adults in the lack of control condition compared to older adults in the control condition.Moreover,need for structure played a mediating role,while selfesteem did not moderate this relationship pattern.Since negative self-stereotyping can negatively affect the physical health and cognitive abilities of older adults,the third section,from an intervention perspective,included two studies to explore how to weaken or eliminate the effects of lack of control on older adults’ self-stereotyping.On the basis of study 3,study 6 explored whether an adapted dot-prob attention training task can effectively transfer the attentional bias of older adults to age stereotypes vocabulary under the condition of lack of control.It was found that the attentional bias towards age stereotypes vocabulary was weakened among older adults in the condition of lack of control after attention training.Based on the mediating role of need for structure,Study 7 examined whether providing a structural affirmation task to older adults with lack of control can attenuate subsequent negative self-stereotyping.In this study,after manipulating older adults at a state of lack of control,half of the older adults were asked to complete a jigsaw puzzle task(a structure-affirming task),and the other half watched a video.It was found that older adults who had the opportunity to complete a jigsaw puzzle task(a structure-affirming task)had lower levels of negative self-stereotyping than those who watched videos.This result again verified the mediating role of need for structure.In conclusion,this dissertation suggested that there is a significant negative relationship between the sense of control and the level of self-stereotyping in older adults.Lack of control leads to increased levels of self-stereotyping in older adults.Attentional bias training and structural affirmation task were effective strategies to weaken the effect of lack of control on self-stereotyping.This dissertation provided some empirical support for compensation control theory.