Kogan’s Attitudes Toward Old People Scale

Abstract

The Kogan’s Attitudes Toward Old People Scale (KAOP), developed by Nathan Kogan in 1961, is a seminal instrument designed to quantitatively assess attitudes toward elderly individuals. The scale is structured around 34 items, comprising 17 items expressing negative sentiments (OP—) and 17 corresponding positive items (OP+). The development process involved adapting some items from existing ethnic minority scales by substituting the target group with “old people,” while others were generated based on Kogan’s understanding of common stereotypes regarding the elderly population.

Initial testing on a college student sample demonstrated acceptable internal consistency, with reliability coefficients ranging from .66 to .85. Notably, the OP— subscale exhibited greater reliability than the OP+ subscale, although significant correlations between the positive and negative item sets confirmed the logical consistency of participant responses, suggesting that the scale effectively measures a coherent construct of attitudes toward aging.

Keywords

Kogan’s Attitudes Toward Old People Scale, Attitudes toward the Elderly, Test Development, Test Reliability, Aged (Attitudes Toward), Aging (Attitudes Toward), Test Construction, Social Psychology, Gerontology.

Authors

Kogan, Nathan

Purpose

The primary purpose of the KAOP scale is to provide a standardized, psychometrically sound method for measuring the overall affective and cognitive disposition, or attitude, held by individuals toward the elderly population. This assessment is crucial for research in social psychology and gerontology, particularly in identifying potential ageism or underlying prejudices.

By using paired positive and negative items, the scale allows researchers to capture the complexity of attitudes, differentiating between overt hostility (measured by OP—) and positive acceptance (measured by OP+). This structure enables a detailed examination of potential ambivalence or polarized views regarding old age.

Construct

The KAOP measures the psychological construct of Attitudes toward Old People. This construct encompasses the spectrum of beliefs, feelings, and behavioral intentions that an individual holds concerning the elderly as a social group, often reflecting generalized assumptions or prejudices about aging.

Kogan specifically structured the scale to address both favorable and unfavorable perceptions, ensuring that the measurement was not unidimensional. The resulting scores reflect the degree of acceptance versus rejection of prevailing stereotypes about aging and the aged population.

Validity

The original source documentation does not explicitly indicate specific studies concerning the scale’s formal validity (e.g., criterion or construct validity). However, the scale’s development methodology—including the adaptation of items from established ethnic prejudice scales—suggests an initial attempt to ensure face validity and content relevance regarding social bias measurement.

Reliability

Initial reliability testing conducted on a sample of college students yielded internal consistency estimates ranging from .66 to .85. These values, typically reported as reliability coefficients, suggest acceptable to good consistency for a new measure at the time of its publication.

A critical finding was the observed difference in reliability between the subscales: the OP— (negative sentiment) scale consistently demonstrated greater internal consistency than the OP+ (positive sentiment) scale. Furthermore, the significant correlation found between the scores on the positive and negative item sets provided evidence of logical consistency in how participants responded to the opposing statements.

Factor Analysis

The original source material does not provide documentation regarding a formal factor analysis. Therefore, the underlying factor structure of the 34 items—specifically, whether they load onto two distinct factors (positive and negative) or a single bipolar factor—was not detailed in Kogan’s initial publication.

Instrument

Test Type: Rating Scale

Format: Paper-based administration (Likert-type scale)

Language Available: English (Original)

Population Group: Human; Male; Female

Age Group: Adults (specifically younger adults in the initial sample)

Population Details: Initial sample consisted of college students from the United States.

Test Methodology: The scale utilizes 34 items and employs a six-point response format designed to capture varying levels of agreement. Response categories include: strongly disagree, disagree, slightly disagree, slightly agree, agree, and strongly agree. These responses are scored numerically from 1 to 7, where a score of 4 is reserved for a “no response” option, ensuring a neutral midpoint is available for computational purposes, though not explicitly labeled as a choice category.

Keywords

KAOP, Ageism, Stereotypes of the Elderly, Social Attitudes, Psychometric Scales, Nathan Kogan, Development and Aging.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not provided in source.

Correspondence Address: Not provided in source.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The scale was developed in 1961. The original author granted permission for use in Research/Teaching settings.

Reference’s

Kogan, N. (1961). Attitudes toward old people: The development of a scale and an examination of correlates. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 62(1), 44–54. The digital object identifier (DOI) is https://doi.org/10.1037/h0048053.

Items of the Kogan’s Attitudes Toward Old People Scale

• 1 Na It would probably be better if most old people lived in residential units with people of their own age.
  1 Pa It would probably be better if most old people lived in residential units that also housed younger people.
• 2 N There is something different about most old people: it’s hard to figure out what makes them tick.
  2 P Most old people are really no different from anybody else: they’re as easy to understand as
  younger people.
• 3 N Most old people get set in their ways and are unable to change.
  3 P Most old people are capable of new adjustments when the situation demands it.
• 4 N Most old people would prefer to quit work as soon as pensions or their children can support them.
  4 P Most old people would prefer to continue working just as long as they possibly can rather than
  be dependent on anybody.
• 5 N Most old people tend to let their homes become shabby and unattractive.
  5 P Most old people can generally be counted on to maintain a clean, attractive home.
• 6 N It is foolish to claim that wisdom comes with old age.
  6 P People grow wiser with the coming of old age.
• 7 N Old people have too much power in business and politics.
  7 Pb Old people should have more power in business and politics.
• 8 N Most old people make one feel ill at ease.
  8 P Most old people are very relaxing to be with.
• 9 N Most old people bore others by their insistence on talking about the “good old days.”
  9 Pb One of the most interesting and entertaining qualities of most old people is their accounts of their past experiences.
• 10 N Most old people spend too much time prying into the affairs of others and giving unsought advice.
  10 Pb Most old people tend to keep to themselves and give advice only when asked.
• 11 N If old people expect to be liked, their first step is to try to get rid of their irritating faults.
  11 P When you think about it, old people have the same faults as anybody else.
• 12 N In order to maintain a nice residential neighborhood, it would be best if too many old people did not live in it.
  12 P You can count on finding a nice residential neighborhood when there is a sizeable number of old people living in it.
• 13 N There are a few exceptions, but in general most old people are pretty much alike.
  13 P It is evident that most old people are very different from one another.
• 14 N Most old people should be more concerned with their personal appearance; they’re too untidy.
  14 P Most old people seem to be quite clean and neat in their personal appearance.
• 15 N Most old people are irritable, grouchy, and unpleasant.
  15 P Most old people are cheerful, agreeable, and good humored.
• 16 N Most old people are constantly complaining about the behavior of the younger generation.
  16 P One seldom hears old people complaining about the behavior of the younger generation.
• 17 N Most old people make excessive demands for love and reassurance.
  17 P Most old people need no more love and reassurance than anyone else.

a Items are listed in pairs, N representing the negatively worded form and P the positively worded form.

b Revised form of the item used with NU-II sample. The revised items read as follows:

• 7 P Old people have too little power in business and politics.
• 9 P One of the more interesting qualities of most old people is their accounts of their past experiences.
• 10 P Most old people respect others’ privacy and give advice only when asked.