Self Doubt and Stereotypes Impede Memory
Be Sure to Factor Biases about Cognition into Your Design
As we age our memory gets worse, right? Holding that negative stereotype, or believing others around you hold it, can in fact make your memory worse. Or so reports researchers from North Carolina State University. They report:
“For example, older adults will perform more poorly on a memory test if they are told that older folks do poorly on that particular type of memory test,” Hess says. Memory also suffers if senior citizens believe they are being “stigmatized,” meaning that others are looking down on them because of their age.”
I have seen similar studies even ones that have an impact on where folks score on the dementia scale.
This is an important finding for cognitive designers working on applications for highly educated elderly, especially 70 and up.
It is worth taking the time to understand their mental model (set of beliefs and assumptions) about how “old people” perceive, learn, think, feel and interact. If they are living in a assisted environment you best also understand how the staff thinks to see if there are negative stereotypes at work. You may find some serious biases about cognition that need to be factored into your design. The researcher also found that:
“Finally, the study found that negative effects were strongest for those older adults with the highest levels of education.”
These folks put a premium on their cognition and therefore would most likely be sensitive to stereotypes and self doubt.
October 6th, 2009 at 4:23 am
[...] This chap added an interesting post today on Cognitive Design Blog Archive Self Doubt and Stereotypes …Here’s a small readingThis is an important finding for cognitive designers working on applications for highly educated elderly, especially 70 and up. It is worth taking the time to understand their mental model (set of beliefs and assumptions) about how â??old … [...]