The foolishness and wisdom of age: Attitudes toward the elderly as reflected in jokes

Abstract

One hundred jokes about the aged were compared with 160 jokes about children. A negative attitude toward the aged and a positive one toward children were found. In addition, these jokes in general were more negative toward the next older generation, implying that conflicts orginating in childhood may continue throughout the generations. Jokes presented old age in a very ambivalent manner, on the one hand as a time of decline and nearness to death and on the other hand as a period of affirmation and transcendance. © The Gerontological Society of America.