1st Asm Soc4328

Name: Sa Hei
Student ID: 4003933

Course code: SOC4328
Tutorial section: 858
Date of submission: 2nd Oct 2023
Word count: 814 words
1st Reflective Essay
Growing up for few years with elderly caretakers, my perception of older people was largely
influenced by their physical appearance and chronological age. I saw them as wise and
knowledgeable individuals, but also physically frail and perhaps a bit set in their ways. What
shaped my perception of older people most is that I was unconsciously influenced by my
parents. As they are very filial piety that keep telling us to pay extra attention to my
grandparents since they are old, they cannot take care of themselves well. It is normal for
them to forget most things. We just need to remind them more, preferably several times. We
have to help them as much as we can. Stereotypes of aging include assumptions and
generalizations about how people at or over a certain age should behave, and what they are
likely to experience, without regard for individual differences or unique circumstances.
(Dionigi, 2015). I think what my parents told me to follow made me have the negative
stereotypes of the elderly. It is precisely because of the "consideration" of younger
generations that the elderly think that their forgetfulness and inability are normal, so they give
up on improving themselves and accept the fact that they need special care because of their
age. In the past life, they were always regarded as "weak" and "needing to be taken care of".
But they are actually only in the third stage, and they can complete many things on their own
that I take the initiative to help. After taking this course, especially after completing the aging
quiz in lecture 2, I answered 90% of the questions wrong, which shows that I misunderstood
the elders to a great extent. Luckily, my understanding has changed significantly. I now
realize that there is tremendous diversity among older adults and that not every older person
is fragile and stubborn as their health levels, interests and lifestyles vary. The course
mentioned that the elderly are different individuals, which are not only defined by physical
limitations. Even people of the same age have minds of different ages. They can still be
subjective young. This broadened my horizons and made me no longer look at every elder
with stereotypes.
I believe my perspective is very different from the mainstream. Although the popular media
often portrays older adults as fragile, outdated, and isolated. Although this is kind of
compassionate stereotypes, my upbringing showed me a different reality. Because I was
temporarily taken care of by my grandparents when I was young, I saw their positive and
energetic side. They will not give up their interests because they get older, but because they
have more time and more opportunities to develop their hobbies after retirement. This course
reinforced this idea and reminded me that stereotypes do not encompass all aging
experiences. Therefore, I believe that the media’s portrayal of the elderly is incorrect, which
often leads others to ignore the efforts and contributions of the elderly to society or family.
And, this is part of the reason for age discrimination. In a company, younger people may
think that older people’s ideas are too old-fashioned or even outdated. So, their thoughts and
opinions are often ignored. On the contrary, the elderly should be molded into important
members of society, their contributions recognized, so that they can live more energetic lives,
and at the same time alleviate the problem of age discrimination in the workplace.
Neither negative nor positive stereotypes are to be encouraged. If the mass media portrays the
elderly as healthy, active, and wise, this will inadvertently bring pressure to the elderly. They
may worry that they cannot meet society's standards, may feel anxious, and fear that they will
disappoint their families.
With a deeper understanding of aging, I am more optimistic about my aging future. I learned
that even old age can be a time of continued growth, learning, and contribution. I was
inspired by the course to maintain a proactive health attitude when I enter the third stage, or
even my fourth age, because I know this can greatly affect the quality of my life in my later
years. Levy's (2003) review of age stereotypes showed that disease and disablement
processes that are associated with aging may be partially explained by the influence of
psychosocial constructs of the aging self. No matter how old I am, the most important thing is
to maintain a positive attitude towards life and not to entrust what I can do to others just
because my descendants or others provide assistance. This will not help my physical or
mental health. As the course mentioned that, the functional ability can be more important than
chronological age. I think by that time, my “felt age” can be much younger than my actual
age. I won’t want anyone else’s pity either. Instead, I wanted opportunities where I could
prove my independence and self-reliance.
No content generated by AI technologies has been used in this assignment.
References:
1. Dionigi, R. A. (2015, November 12). Stereotypes of aging: Their effects on the health of
older adults. Journal of Geriatrics. https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jger/2015/954027/
2. B. A. Meisner, “A meta-analysis of positive and negative age stereotype priming effects on
behavior among older adults,” Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and
Social Sciences, vol. 67, no. 1, pp. 13–17, 2012.

1st Asm Soc4328

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

1st Asm Soc4328

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

1st Asm Soc4328

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Name: Sa Hei

Student ID: 4003933

1st Reflective Essay

No content generated by AI technologies has been used in this assignment.

You might also like