Do Benevolent and Hostile Expressions of Ageism Really Differ? The Underlying Role of Social Attitudes, Personality, Values, Emotions, and Beliefs

Are individual differences sustaining benevolent and hostile ageism similar or different? Across two studies (Ns = 254 and 292), we investigated key individual differences hypothesised to sustain benevolent ageism and hostile expressions of ageism, that is, hostile ageism and intergenerational tension (consumption, succession, identity): social attitudes, personality, values, emotions, belief flexibility, religiosity, and intergenerational contact. Both benevolent and hostile expressions of ageism denote typical prejudicial dispositions: high authoritarianism and social dominance, low self-transcendent values, lower belief flexibility, and lower education. Additionally, hostile expressions of ageism reflect indifference and depreciation: lower compassion, agreeableness, and contact with older persons, and highly valuing self-enhancement (power, achievement). Benevolent ageism represents an ambivalent mixture of pity/compassion, collectivism (tradition, religiosity), and fear (security, death anxiety). Mediational analyses indicated that religiosity's link with conservatism (authoritarianism) can lead to ageism, but religiosity's link with compassion explains religious people's tendency to show benevolent, not hostile ageism.