... viewed as distinct societal subgroups (Jelenic and Stffens, 2002). The study of people's attitudes towards ageing and the elderly has been existent for more than four decades. Attitudes are subject to change as culture develops and society modernizes. Carney (1997) states that "social values about ageing are changeable and often ambivalent" (pp. 249). Negative beliefs surrounding ageing people tend to result in people preferring to be younger than they are and believing that they look so too. Such beliefs have lead to the hypothesis that actual age is higher than the age people would choose to look and believe they look (1). As noted by Kogan and Mills (1992), Sontag (1979) held the premise that women are judged more negatively on their physical appearance than are men. Signs of ageing such as grey hair, wrinkles and changed body shape in women are thought to devalue a woman's attractiveness. Conversely, the ...

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