Breaking the Age Code

The cultural biases you hold about aging affect your experience of growing older.

On Japan’s Respect for the Aged Day, or Keiro No Hi, the nation’s aging population defies stereotypes: Some older adults celebrate by learning a musical instrument, while others might pick up a comic book featuring a love story between older adults. After a visit to Japan, Yale researcher Becca Levy began studying the psychosocial factors influencing aging. She found that societally constructed beliefs surrounding aging cause or exacerbate many of the physiological and cognitive challenges Westerners associate with aging.

Many of the health issues and behaviors people associate with getting older reflect cultural biases. For example, health professionals hold the stereotype that it’s normal for older people to experience depression. But depression needn’t be part of the aging experience.

Levy’s framework, “stereotype embodiment theory” (SET) describes how aging stereotypes can negatively or positively affect your health. You internalize cultural views about aging beginning in childhood. These age beliefs can operate unconsciously. ...