This proposal is a response to PAR-99-049, Research objective 22: Personality and experimental social psychology (social cognition). A set of studies is proposed to investigate the viability of stereotype threat as an explanation for age differences in memory performance. Specifically, these experiments will explore age differences in memory performance by examining memory across different instructional conditions which either highlight memory or highlight a different cognitive function (impression formation). Preliminary data are reported which suggest that older adults perceive memory tasks to be more threatening and difficult than impression formation tasks; that older adults believe they will do worse on a memory task than an impression formation task; and that older adults perform significantly better on a memory task preceded by instructions that emphasize the impression formation component of the task than by instructions that emphasize the memorial component of the task. 180 younger and older adults will participate in three studies. The first proposed experiment will first compare older and younger adults' perceptions of task threat, perceived difficulty, and predicted performance on a memory task vs. an impression formation task. The second proposed experiment will compare older and younger adults' memory performance for a list of behaviors preceded by instructions that either emphasize memory or impression formation. It is predicted that age differences will appear on all of the aforementioned measures when memory instructions are used but not when the alternative instructions are used. As well, the present studies will explore several possible mediating mechanisms, including cognitive worry and state anxiety for the stereotype threat phenomenon in older adults. Finally, the third proposed experiment will explore the relative use of spontaneous memory strategies under more and less threatening instructional conditions. It is predicted that older adults' spontaneous strategy use will equal that of younger adults under impression formation instructions but not under memory instructions.
