What are the consequences for older adults who confront ageism and the perpetrators who engage in ageist behaviors? We compared young (n = 265), middle-aged (n = 338), and older adults' (n = 235) impressions of an older target and the perpetrator of an ageist action. Participants read a vignette about a pedestrian offering unwanted help to an older woman crossing the street. We manipulated the type of ageism (benevolent or hostile), the reaction of the older target (acceptance, moderate confrontation, or strong confrontation) and assessed perceptions of perpetrator appropriateness and how evaluations of warmth, competence, and overall impression of the target changed over time. The perpetrator's act of benevolent ageism was perceived to be more appropriate than hostile ageism, and middle-aged and older adult participants reported the benevolent act to be more acceptable than young participants. This finding supports an age stereotype assimilation account. For target perceptions, accepting a hostile ageist behavior led to lower warmth and competence ratings but accepting benevolent ageism reduced warmth but not competence evaluations. Age differences in target perceptions were predicted by social identity theory, in that older adults rated the older target more positively overall. Perceptions of targets who confronted varied by type of ageism and the intensity of the confrontation. When participants perceived the target's reaction to be disproportionate to the ageist act, the target was viewed more negatively overall. The findings suggest that ageism directed toward older adults is perceived to be normative by adults of all ages and that confrontations of ageist behavior result in negative perceptions of the older target. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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不需要的帮助：接受与减少年龄歧视行为会影响老年人的印象。

面对年龄歧视的老年人和从事年龄歧视行为的肇事者会有什么后果？我们比较了年轻 (n = 265)、中年 (n = 338) 和老年人 (n = 235) 对年长目标和年龄歧视行为肇事者的印象。参与者阅读了一个关于行人向过马路的老年妇女提供不必要帮助的小插曲。我们操纵了年龄歧视的类型（善意或敌意）、较老目标的反应（接受、适度对抗或强烈对抗）并评估了对施暴者适当性的看法以及对目标的热情、能力和整体印象的评估如何变化时间。肇事者的仁慈年龄歧视行为被认为比敌对年龄歧视更合适，中年和老年参与者报告说，这种仁慈的行为比年轻参与者更容易接受。这一发现支持了一个年龄刻板印象同化的说法。对于目标认知，接受敌对的年龄歧视行为会导致较低的热情和能力评级，但接受仁慈的年龄歧视会降低热情，但不会降低能力评估。社会认同理论预测了目标认知的年龄差异，因为老年人总体上对老年目标的评价更为积极。对所面对的目标的看法因年龄歧视的类型和对抗的强度而异。当参与者认为目标的反应与年龄歧视行为不成比例时，目标的整体看法更为消极。研究结果表明，针对老年人的年龄歧视被所有年龄段的成年人认为是规范的，并且年龄歧视行为的对抗会导致对老年人的负面看法。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2021 APA，保留所有权利）。