Ageism is defined as stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination towards people because of their age. Although ageism can be directed towards people of any age group, most research has focused on ageism towards older people. Ageism towards older people is known to have a significant impact on their health and wellbeing and to even result in higher healthcare costs. The present study evaluated the use of virtual embodiment (VE) to reduce self- and other-directed ageism.

We randomized 80 individuals between the ages of 18 and 35 years to one of two conditions: VE as an older or a younger avatar.

No differences were found on explicit measures of ageism. Once multiple comparisons were accounted for, a nonsignificant reduction in implicit age bias following exposure to the older avatar (Cohen’s d = .75, p = .02) also was found.

Past research has established the effectiveness of VE in relation to implicit measures. However, once both explicit and implicit measures are included and multiple comparisons are accounted for, neither explicit nor implicit measures of ageism show a significant effect. Given the multidimensional nature of ageism, further research is needed to establish the effectiveness of VE once multiple measures of ageism are considered.

年龄歧视被定义为因年龄而对人的刻板印象、偏见和歧视。尽管年龄歧视可以针对任何年龄段的人，但大多数研究都集中在对老年人的年龄歧视上。众所周知，对老年人的年龄歧视会对他们的健康和福祉产生重大影响，甚至会导致更高的医疗保健费用。本研究评估了使用虚拟化身 (VE) 来减少自我和他人导向的年龄歧视。

我们将 80 名年龄在 18 至 35 岁之间的人随机分配到以下两种情况之一：VE 作为年长或年轻的化身。

在年龄歧视的明确措施上没有发现差异。一旦考虑了多重比较，还发现暴露于较旧化身后隐性年龄偏差的减少不显着（Cohen 的 d = .75， p = .02）。

过去的研究已经确定了 VE 与隐性措施相关的有效性。然而，一旦包括了显性和隐性措施并考虑了多重比较，无论是显性还是隐性的年龄歧视措施都没有显示出显着的影响。鉴于年龄歧视的多维性质，一旦考虑了多种年龄歧视措施，就需要进一步研究以确定 VE 的有效性。