Effects of Pseudo-Positive Ageism: A Systematized Critical Review

There has been scattered research that explores so-called ‘positive’ generalizations of ageism. These ‘positive’ forms of ageism are more subtle than the negative and is often overlooked in literature and society. The aim of this systematized critical review is to synthesize the current knowledge of these ‘positive’ forms of ageism. A comprehensive literature search was performed on 8 databases to identify primary research articles on the overarching concept of positive ageism. The systematic search yielded 2,216 studies to which 5 met the inclusion criteria and were selected for full text review/data extraction. Definitions of ‘positive’ ageism featured the term benevolent ageism. ‘Positive’ ageism was found to influence the affective state of younger people and the perceptions of older people. Furthermore, intersectional analysis found one study examining the interactions between age and gender. Results may aid to inform future research and policy on ‘positive’ ageism and its implications.