moderate automatic preference for Young people over Old people.

1)I took the Age IAT and got a moderate automatic preference for Young people over Old people. I am not surprised at the result I got. However, I want to improve my result in the future and have a more neutral automatic preference. Growing up with healthy grandparents, I have always had a good attitude toward aging. The results show me that my implicit attitude can come from other sources that I am not aware of.

One of WHO ways of combatting ageism is to create age-friendly environment free from physical and social barriers. I believe that we can combat ageism as a country by promoting a less segegrated society. Once we get older, our social group become smaller and the interaction we have with other generations reduce significantly. As a country, we can create more opportunities for older adults to remain active and involve in the society as long as they want to. We can achieve this by creating more senior friendly facilities/ public establishment (gym, curbside/traffic light, senior friendly technology). If older adults can feel more comfortable and supported to continue to live in the society with other generations,  this will create a more intergenerational society. Intergenerational society can reduce negative stereotype on older adults and create more compassion and understanding society.

2)The test I took was an age-orientation test. Before the test, my prediction was that I would prefer to be exposed to younger people than older people. And, of course, that’s exactly what the tests showed. In fact, I’m not surprised by this result. For me, I don’t like sitting next to old people when I was young, and I don’t like talking to my grandparents when I grow up, which all indicate that I prefer to communicate with young people. Not only me but also the whole Chinese society has this kind of discrimination against the elderly. From the news coverage of elderly people dancing in public squares to the rampant theft of elderly people, the image of the elderly in China is that they are backward, pedantic, and slow. However, this is a wrong concept. Older people have more life and social experience and have unique views on many things. We should listen to the opinions and suggestions of the elderly with an open mind. There is an old Chinese saying that if you do not listen to your elders, you will be at your peril. In my opinion, our country can actively carry out public welfare activities of nursing homes. Encouraging a lot of young people to go to the nursing home to show love and serve the elderly. Let them communicate with the elderly face to face, change the young people’s traditional view of the elderly backward. The elderly can also put forward their own opinions and suggestions for the future development of young people, so that young people also benefit.