The Effect of Appearance Aging Stereotype on Sense of Body Ownership and the Mediating Role of Self-Objectification.

Background: Appearance aging stereotypes are prevalent in societal contexts. However, the effects of appearance aging stereotypes on psychological constructs, particularly appearance-related bodily self-consciousness in older adults, remain underexplored. This study explored the effect of appearance aging stereotypes on sense of body ownership in older adults and the mediating role of self-objectification.

Methods: In Experiment 1, older participants were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions: a stereotype activation condition (n = 39), in which participants stared at themselves in a mirror for 5 minutes and then wrote down the appearance-related shortcomings of older adults; and a control condition (n = 39), in which participants spent 5 minutes viewing a landscape image and wrote down adjectives to describe it. Subsequently, all participants completed the Rubber Hand Illusion task to measure their sense of body ownership. In Experiment 2, following the same experimental manipulations as in Experiment 1, older participants in the stereotype activation group (n = 36) and the control group (n = 36) completed assessments of state self-objectification and sense of body ownership.

Results: Older adults in the stereotype activation group exhibited a lower level of sense of body ownership compared to those in the control group (Experiments 1 and 2). In addition, state self-objectification mediated the effect of appearance aging stereotypes on sense of body ownership (Experiment 2).

Conclusion: Our findings indicate that appearance aging stereotypes are risk factors for sense of body ownership in older adults, providing new insights into understanding of body ownership, and enrich theories of aging stereotypes.