Age, gender, and individual differences in memory failure appraisal.

Young adults (22 men and 24 women) and older adults (24 men and 24 women) rated 12 gender-neutral vignettes describing short-term, long-term, and very-long-term memory failures. Vignette target persons were young (aged 21–32 yrs) or older (aged 65–75 yrs) men or women. Ss of both age and gender groups used a double standard: Failures of older targets of both genders were rated as signifying greater mental difficulty than failures of young targets; failures of young targets were attributed to lack of effort and attention. Young Ss judged very-long-term failures more harshly than did older Ss. Ss' objective memory performance, self-rated memory failure frequency, memory failure discomfort, and depression made little difference in their target person ratings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)