Gender influences on age cognitions and preferences: sociocultural or sociobiological?

The present article reviews research concerned with gender effects on cognitions and evaluations of people varying in age. Sontag's (1979) article on the double standard of aging--the purportedly more negative consequences of aging in women in contrast to men--serves as a point of departure for the review. Research using attitude-scale, semantic differential, and person-perception methodology points to sex-of-target, sex-of-subject, and target-subject interaction effects in response to a diversity of age-relevant stimuli. Though the reported studies are not completely consistent, there is much suggestive evidence that age is a more salient dimension for men than for women when judging others. Furthermore, men exhibit a stronger youth bias. The overall evidence is consistent with an evolutionary hypothesis, but further research that focuses on the proximal determinants of the observed effects is urged.