The Effects of Age and Attitudes on Undergraduates' Judgments of Ethicality

Summary

To test the salience of age and people's attitudes toward aging in situations of norm violation, 104 male and female undergraduates read an account of an actual psychological research study which was deemed to be unethical and thought to have been conducted by Es of different ages (student, junior faculty, senior faculty, control) and rated it in terms of its ethicality, their willingness to participate in it, and cost-benefit factors. Results showed that S s judged the study less ethical and were less willing to participate in it when it was conducted by an older researcher. S s with negative attitudes toward old people were also less willing to participate. S s in the senior-researcher condition and those with negative attitudes toward old people were oblivious to cost-benefit factors. Results suggest that age was salient in cases of norm violation, that attitudes toward old people reflected themselves in behavioral intentions, and that cost-benefit measures provided an index of prejudicial thought.