Transcript Attitudes & Ageism - Personal Web Pages

Attitudes & Ageism
and how language across the life span
is interwoven with both
Life-span communication
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Life-span communication suggests that
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while there is decline in some cognitive and
physical abilities as we age, communication
development occurs throughout a life
span—our ability to communicate changes
and may even improve
our research on this process needs to be
both quantitative and qualitative
Pecchioni, Wright & Nussbaum 2005. Life Span Communication. Ch 1
Age norms: cultural reflections?
Ben http://www.comics.com
What does this clip suggest to you?
Attitudes about aging
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3 components: behavioral, cognitive, affective
These components color
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how younger people feel toward older people
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how people feel and think about the aging process
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how people behave as they grow older
Concerns young people have
For better or for worse, January 20, 2006
Age norms: language development
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Age 3 –talk about ideas and feelings
Age 7 – milestones with abstractions
Age 8 – milestones: jump in complexity
Teen years – social and linguistic
complexity
And then?
How older adults use language:
does this differ from your usage?
L.Worrall & L. Hickson. 2003. Communication disability in aging. Delmar, p. 140
Culturally speaking, what’s your age
norm for these?
1. Wearing a short skirt
and high heels
2. Living alone
3. Getting married
4. Raising children
5. Being considered sexy
6. Drinking alcohol
7. Driving a sports car
8. Having others make
decisions for you
9. Displaying affection in
public
10. Running a marathon
11. Running for U.S.
president
12. Retiring
13. Becoming pregnant
14. Enrolling in a 4 year
college degree program
15. Receiving a heart
transplant
Culturally speaking, are these your age norms?
What do
these have in
common?
Clips from http://www.biology.duke.edu/cunningham/Villains.html
Social expectations about language
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Value judgments about language are
socially based
People notice – and evaluate – ways of
talking that are different from their own
They hear words and accents and
assign gender, age, region, class, and
even ethnicity
And attitudes arise . . .
When reality intersects with attitude
Female adult voices typically show a pitch
that is 75% higher than the male’s:
different vocal cord length & mass
Male vocal tract length is 15% longer
resulting in different resonance (and
greater risk of choking on food)
Vocal organs show sexual dimorphism
Gender is something assigned or constructed
Some tech-terms we’ll need
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Levels of language (brief definitions)
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Phonology, morphology, lexicon, syntax,
pragmatics, discourse
Instant background
http://homepage.ntu.edu.tw/~karchung/lin
guistics%20links.htm
Word-categories that do special things
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Hedges, intensifiers, go-ahead (feedback)
Chart of language levels
Meaning
Lexis (‘word meaning’)
Semantics (‘sentence meaning’
Pragmatics (‘meaning in context’)
Intertextual features
Grammar
Syntax and morphology
Sounds
Phonology (speech)
Gender-cued language and attitudes
Lexical and morphological differences
morphology in some languages (Japanese)
emotive words; color terms
Stylistic differences claimed:
go-aheads, hedges
F+
interruptions, direct orders M+
Difference or dominance?
rapport or informational?
Generational differences in lexicon
Pickles. January 20, 2006.
Preston on linguistic prejudice
A primary linguistic myth, one nearly
universally attached to minorities, rural
people and the less well educated,
extends in the United States even to
well-educated speakers of some
regional varieties. That myth, of course,
is that some varieties of a language are
not as good as others.
http://www.pbs.org/speak/speech/prejudice/attitudes/
Preston collected perceptions of
‘correct’ speech
Mean scores for ‘correct’
Lowest ratings: South and
NYC
150 EuroAm, both sexes,
all ages & classes, from
Michigan
http://www.pbs.org/speak/speech/prejudice/attitudes/
Perceptions of ‘pleasant’ speech
Mean scores for
pleasant
By Alabamians
Again, 1=low
http://www.pbs.org/speak/speech/prejudice/attitudes/
Just in case you didn’t ‘get it’
Hand-drawn, from Michigan
http://www.pbs.org/speak/speech/prejudice/attitudes/
Quantitative and qualitative
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Life Span Communication research
assumes that both methodologies are
important
Quantitative may measure frequencies
or specific differences – as in finding
out how many of us think the speaker
we’re about to hear is friendly or polite
Qualitative will explain our perceptions
Stereotyped projections of elder speech
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Tangential – speaker wanders off the
topic
Vacillating – speaker can’t make choices
Repetitive – speaker repeats same words
Too wordy – speaker gives too many
details
Age-biased reactions: Ryan’s research
avoidance
impatience
controlling talk
baby talk or
Elderspeak
(simplified
speech)
overly familiar
talk
shouting
non-listening
showing
disapproval
condescension
dismissive
comments
Often, we don’t realize that we have changed our
speech when we talk to an older person.
Overaccomodation
Can be seen as
patronizing:
wrong message!
Overaccommodation
- such as babytalk,
Elderspeak, or being
overly familiar - means
we are talking to the
stereotype of being old and not to the individual.
That’s not the message we want to send.
Strangers with candy: publicity still
Underaccommodation
Freezing people out: sending
the wrong message
Little Miss Sunshine: publicity still
We under-accommodate a
speaker’s needs when we
show that we are not
listening, or use dismissive
comments, condescension,
or controlling talk. We
move away from them.
That’s not the message we
want to send.
How we change our speech: 1
Conversation with
Conversation with
adult 54 years old
adult 94 years
old
1. I tended to
display my
1. I was much more
interest by
likely to interrupt
nodding much
with interjections
more instead of
and clarifying
interrupting
statements
Example from Batson 2003
How we change our speech: 2
With the person
With the person
aged
94:
aged 54:
2. I was much more
2. I participated
likely to “sugaractively with my
coat” my
opinions and/or
honest opinions in
modify
my
more
this dialogue
“modern” points
of view
Example from Batson 2003
How we change our speech: 3
With the person
aged 54
3. I spoke more
softly and more
quickly
With the person
aged 94
3. My voice was
much louder, and
I spoke slower
than usual
Example from Batson 2003
How we change our speech: 4
With the person aged
54
4. I was less
“unnecessarily”
pleasant, meaning, I
didn’t use
complimentary
language unless
very appropriate
With the person aged
94
4. I consistently
mentioned how nice
the individual
looked, and how I
enjoyed talking to
him/her
Example from Batson 2003
Age-associated differences in
communication expectations
Ryan & Butler (1996: 192) claim that “some distinctions
between young and old adults that influence
intergenerational relationships arise from historical
differences in socialization”
This affects patient-provider roles. Haug (1996:252)
reports less time given to consultations for patients 60
and older, and that “doctors may speak
more slowly, in a louder voice, use simplified
language, and take on a patronizing air,
blaming older patients, but not younger, for
forgetfulness”
Special issue, Health Communications 8.3 (1996)
Healthcare worker interactions
Burda (2005:8) notes that older people either have little
experience with or feel that questioning professionals is
inappropriate. Since many interactions involve tasks
(ADL), noncompliance may ensue -- particularly if the
older person doesn’t understand the healthcare worker’s
accent.
Hmmm. We’re back
@ attitudes
Burda, A. & Hageman, C. Perception of accented speech by residents in assisted-living facilities,
J Medical Speech-Language Pathology 13, 7-14
Language issues for new nurses:
what’s beneath the surface?
Smith: JONAS Healthcare Law Ethics Regulations, Vol 6(1).March 2004.15-16
Ageism in general
In North America and Europe,
“Older adults are often
marginalized, given low social
status, and either ignored in
the media or portrayed in roles
reinforcing negative
stereotypes” (Nelson, 2002).
Nussbaum, J., Pitts, M., Huber, F., Krieger, J., Ohs, J. 2005. Ageism and ageist language across the life
span. Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 61, pp. 287--305
Ageist stereotypes
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Unfavorable stereotypes characterize older people
as forgetful, sick, unattractive, useless, lonely, and
dependent (Hess & Blanchard-Fields, 1999;
Nelson, 2002; Palmore, 1999).
Trait sorting studies have identified several
negative prototypes of older persons such as
‘shrew-curmudgeon,’ ‘despondent,’ and ‘severely
impaired’ “(Ryan et al 2004: 344)
Jigsaw: Evaluating intergenerational
materials
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Each group will review a different curriculum plan
that introduces aging from a lifespan perspective,
using a NATLA rubric
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We will use a jigsaw process: 4 people each
‘travel’ to 4 other groups, the rest stay ‘home’ to
explain the group’s opinion. Back home: put it all
together
http://www.cps.unt.edu/natla/rsrc/lessonplans.html and http://www.jigsaw.org/
Evaluating curriculum plans
What do you call older people?
Changing attitudes: aging in America
Elder migration: where grandparents live
Ageism: word association
Laws promoting healthy aging: Japan-US
Evaluation rubric
Intergenerational communication:
3 models
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CAT communication accommodation
 Convergent X divergent strategies
CPA communicative predicament
 Problematic talk < negative stereotypes
CEM communication enhancement
 Tailor speech to individual needs and thereby
reduce stereotypes
Nussbaum, J., Pitts, M., Huber, F., Krieger, J., Ohs, J. 2005. Ageism and ageist language across the life
span. Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 61, pp. 287--305
Youth X old age in Asia X Canada
Views of the old in the East now often resemble the West’s.
Expectations about declining
personal vitality & increasing
benevolence in old age were found
among young and old respondents in
the East (Mainland, Hong Kong,
Korea, Philippines and Thailand) and
the West (U.S.A., Australia, NZ)
Accepting public norms of filial
obligation and honor need not
conflict with negative inner
beliefs about aging and older
people
Ryan, E., Jin, Y., Anas, A., Luh, J. (2004 )Communication beliefs about youth and old age in Asia &
Canada. J Cross-Cultural Gerontology 19: 343–360
Ryan’s cross-cultural work suggests
Educational interventions – the CEM model - to
improve intergenerational communication
between young and old may be more likely to
succeed if they target
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fostering of positive attitudes toward
empathic, socially skilled, story-telling
aspects of communication in later life
rather than the reduction of negative
attitudes.
Ryan, E., Jin, Y., Anas, A., Luh, J. (2004 )Communication beliefs about youth and old age
in Asia & Canada. J Cross-Cultural Gerontology 19: 343–360.