Stereotypes of the Eldecly - PSYCHOLOGY NOTES - It has been noted that we have mure stereotypes a buur old people than about any other group. For instance, we tend to assume that the elderly are struck in the past (which is not true) and that they are much less competent in every way than younger people. The steredrype of growing old in our countryinclude an image of becoming forgetul and absentminded - Mental fu. nctions, according to this image, Inevitably undergo a serious decline in old age. This all seems to imply that the aging process actually causes such declines. What specifically is being claimed or stated? The aging process causes mental abilities to decline. What is the objective evidence for and againts this claim? Just as bodly processes slow down with age, certain mental processes seem to slow slightly. But we have to be careful about assuming that allolder people automatically lose significant cognitive abllty. Most evidence suggest that this is not the case. In animals and human beings, substantial memory detiars occur only in a minority. The decline is most evident in tasks that are learned under pressure within a certain tome limit and in things recently learned.