Belief discrepancy reasoning in the elderly.

The development of belief discrepancy reasoning, or how people evaluate disagreeing others, was examined with forty-four college and elderly respondents. Dogmatism and IQ measures were also administered. The results showed that the elderly were significantly lower in belief discrepancy reasoning and higher in dogmatism than the college sample, despite statistically greater IQ for the former sample and controls for education. For belief discrepancy, the elderly sample did not evidence intolerance, but rather relativism and open-mindedness toward disagreeing others. Implications for the construct validation of belief discrepancy and senescent intolerance are discussed.