This thesis is presented in three parts. The overall focus of the thesis is the impact of stereotype threat on older adults’ cognitive performance. Part one presents a systematic review of research that investigates the evidence for a stereotype threat effect on memory in older adults, and further explores possible mediators and moderators which might explain this effect. Part two is an empirical paper that extends this framework to explore issues encountered in clinical practice by investigating the effects of stereotype threat on older adults taking a diagnostic test for dementia. Part three is a critical appraisal of the investigation presented in the empirical paper. Consideration is given to a number of conceptual and methodological issues pertinent to this study in particular, the applicability of the stereotype threat framework to older adults and cognitive performance and the generalisability of these findings given the characteristics of the sample used in this study. The appraisal concludes with some ideas on the experience of the participants in this study and ways this research may have been conducted differently.
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