What Intergenerational Communicationand Aging means for my own life, Essay

What Intergenerational Communicationand Aging means for my own life, now, and in the future - Essay Example h this course and analyzing related materials, I learned the importance of changing mindsets and communication and relationship goals, so that I can treat and interact with the elderly with respect and recognize and respond to their needs for autonomy and social support, and so that I can pursue a model for successful aging that balances physical and psychological needs and aspirations. Through Comm 119 lectures and various other reading materials, as well as my analysis of my own interactions with the elderly, I realized that social stereotypes about aging and the elderly contribute to the self-fulfilling prophesy of these ageist stereotypes. Cuddy and Fiske (2002) described the various stereotypes of older people that I also practiced in the past, including the grandmotherly and severely impaired stereotypes. I am quite ashamed that I thought that older adults are like babies by focusing on their childish behavior, such as being hard-headed when instructing them to follow proper nutrition practices. I realize now that they are childish (if they are) because of how society treats them. In one of our lectures, the Dallas Morning News (2002) reported that people’s attitudes, and not aging per se, present obstacles to feeling fulfilled during old age (as cited in Giles, 2014a). I agree because I also had the mindset that the elderly, though not all, are the on es making health and social problems by being aggressive in opposing lifestyle or emotional and attitudinal changes that can improve health and social conditions. I would say: â€Å"They can be so hard-headed because they are already old.† By saying this, I frame aging in terms of blaming older people of their health and social issues and aging as the worst phase of mental and psychological development. This kind of framing under-analyzes the needs and goals of the elderly and perpetuates ageism. Besides personal ageist stereotypes, I learned about social institutions that promote ageism and that I must