Becca R. Levy is a professor of Epidemiology (Social and Behavioral Sciences) at Yale School of Public Health and Professor of Psychology at Yale University. She is a leading researcher in the fields of social gerontology and psychology of aging. She is credited with creating the field of how age beliefs, which are assimilated from the culture, impact the health of older individuals.Appleby, J. (2019). From the CEO: Is ageism the "secondhand smoke" of healthy aging? Gerontological News, 47(7), 2. The Dean of Columbia School of Public Health describes Levy as "a pioneer" in the "growing body of impressive research showing that our attitudes toward aging affect our health, our resilience in the face of adversity, and our very survival."
She is an elected fellow to the American Psychological Association, the Association of Psychological Science, and the Gerontological Society of America.
Career
Levy was born in Atlanta, Georgia. She studied psychology and Near Eastern studies at the University of Michigan, where she received a BA with Highest Distinction. She received her MA and PhD in psychology from Harvard University. She trained as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School in the Division on Aging and Department of Social Medicine. Levy then became assistant professor at the Yale School of Public Health. She is now Professor and Director of the Laboratory of Psychosocial Determinants of Aging Health at the Yale School of Public Health. She is also a professor in the Department of Psychology at Yale University.
Research Levy has created an area of research that focuses on the extent to which the aging process is a product of society.Butler, R. N. (2010). The longevity revolution: The benefits and challenges of living a long life. New York: PublicAffairs. She has examined this in a series of innovative studies that demonstrate culture-based positive and negative age stereotypes of older persons have beneficial and detrimental influences, respectively, on a wide range of health conditions. Her research has demonstrated that several of the adverse health conditions assumed to be solely and inevitably a result of aging are, in fact, influenced by negative age stereotypes.
The studies in which she was first author have found that age stereotypes contribute to (a) physical outcomes, such as longevity,Levy, B., Slade M. D., & Kasl, S. V. (2002). Increased longevity by positive self-perceptions of aging. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 261-270. Alzheimer's disease biomarkers,Levy, B. R., Ferrucci, L., Zonderman, A. B., Slade, M. D., Troncoso, J., & Resnick, S. M. (2016). A culture–brain link: Negative age stereotypes predict Alzheimer's disease biomarkers. Psychology and Aging, 31, 82-88. physical function,Levy, B. R., Pilver C., Chung, P. H., & Slade, M. D. (2014). Subliminal strengthening: Improving older individuals' physical function over time with an implicit-age-stereotype intervention. Psychological Science, 25, 2127-2135. cardiovascular events,13 Levy, B. R., Zonderman, A. B., Slade, M. D., & Ferrucci, L. (2009). Age stereotypes held earlier in life predict cardiovascular events in later life. Psychological Science, 20, 296-8. and delayed physical recovery;Levy, B. R., Slade, M. D., Murphy, T. E., & Gill, T. M. (2012). Association between positive age stereotypes and recovery from disability in older persons. JAMA, 308, 1972-1973. (b) mental-health outcomes, such as stress levels,Levy, B. R., Hausdorff, J. M., Hencke, R., & Wei, J. Y. (2000). Reducing cardiovascular stress with positive self-stereotypes of aging. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 55, 205-213.Levy, B. R., Moffat, S., Resnick, S. M., Slade, M. D., & Ferrucci, L. (2016). Buffer against cumulative stress: Positive age self-stereotypes predict lower cortisol across 30 Years. GeroPsych: The Journal of Gerontopsychology and Geriatric Psychiatry, 29, 141-146. will to live,Levy, B., Ashman, O., & Dror, I. (2000). To be or not to be: The effects of aging stereotypes on the will to live. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 40, 409-420 and psychiatric disorders;Levy, B. R., Chung, P. H., Slade, M .D., Van Ness, P. H., & Pietrzak, R. H. (2019). Active coping shields against negative aging self-stereotypes contributing to psychiatric conditions. Social Science and Medicine, 228, 25-29.Levy B. R., Pilver, C. E., & Pietrzak, R. H. (2014). Lower prevalence of psychiatric conditions when negative age stereotypes are resisted. Social Science and Medicine, 119, 170-174. (c) risky health behaviors, such as rejecting prescribed medicationsLevy, B. R., & Myers, L. M. (2004). Preventive health behaviors influenced by self-perceptions of aging. Preventive Medicine, 39, 625-629. and obesity;Levy, B. R., & Slade, M. D. (2019). Positive views of aging reduce risk of developing later-life obesity. Preventive Medicine Report, 13, 196-198. and (d) cognitive outcomes, such as dementia incidenceLevy, B. R., Slade, M. D., Pietrzak, R. H., & Ferrucci L. (2018). Positive age beliefs protect against dementia even among elders with high-risk gene. PLOS ONE, 13, e191004 and memory.Levy, B. (1996). Improving memory in old age through implicit self-stereotyping. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 1092-1107.Levy, B. R., Zonderman, A. B., Slade, M. D., & Ferrucci, L. (2012). Memory shaped by age stereotypes over time. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 67, 432-436.
Levy's studies also show that positive age stereotypes can benefit the health of older persons. Her finding that positive age beliefs can increase older persons' longevity has become one of the most cited findings about old age.Carney, G., & Nash, P. (2020). Critical questions for Aging Societies. Bristol University Press. She has also demonstrated that positive age stereotypes can be enhanced and negative age stereotypes can be diminished through interventions.
This body of research has formed the basis for her stereotype embodiment theory (SET), which posits that the age stereotypes of one's culture are internalized from childhood, reinforced throughout the lifespan, eventually become self-relevant, and then influence health in old age through psychological, behavioral, and physiological pathways.Levy, B. (2009). Stereotype embodiment: A psychological approach to aging. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18, 332-336. According to SET, these stereotypes can operate implicitly. Levy and Mahzarin Banaji are credited with coining the term "implicit ageism".Levy, B. R., & Banaji, M. R. (2002). Implicit ageism. In T. D. Nelson (Ed.), Ageism: Stereotypes and prejudice against older persons. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Levy's research findings about the impact of age stereotypes on older persons' health have been reproduced by scientists in five continents and supported by numerous meta-analyses.Horton S., Baker, J., Pearce, G., Deakin, J.M. (2008). On the malleability of performance- implications for seniors. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 27, 446–465.Westerhof, G.J, Miche, M., Brothers, A.F., et al. (2014). The influence of subjective aging on health and longevity: A meta-analysis of longitudinal data. Psychological Aging, 29, 793–802.Lamont, R. A., Swift, H.J., Abrams, D. (2015). A review and meta-analysis of age-based stereotype threat: negative stereotypes, not facts, do the damage. Psychological Aging, 30, 180–93.Meisner, B.A. (2012). A meta-analysis of positive and negative age stereotype priming effects on behavior among older adults. Journal of Gerontology B: Psychology Sciences and Social Sciences, 67, 13–17. Her ground-breaking studies utilize a variety of complementary methodologies, including experimental, longitudinal, and cross-cultural approaches.Levy, B., & Langer, E. (1994). Aging free from negative stereotypes: Successful memory in China and among the American Deaf. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 989-997.
Levy has contributed over 160 articles and chapters to psychological, gerontological, and medical journals and books. Her research has been supported by the National Institute on Aging, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Science Foundation, Donaghue Medical Research Foundation, and Brookdale Foundation.
Levy's studies have had a real-world impact on improving the well-being of older persons.Lachman, M. (2020, August). Introduction to Baltes Award Address. American Psychological Association Annual Conference. She conducted the first study to show the economic impact of ageism on the health of older persons.
In that study it was found that the financial cost of ageism on health in one year in the United States was $63 billion. She testified before the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging about the harmful impact of ageism in popular media and marketing.The Image of Aging in Media and Marketing 2002. Special Committee on Aging United States Senate. Her findings provided the basis for amicus briefs in age-discrimination cases at the U.S. Supreme Court.United States Supreme Court. "Smith v. City of Jackson, Mississippi." Oyez, www.oyez.org/cases/2004/03-1160. Accessed 23 Oct. 2020. The American Psychological Association advocated a historic resolution against ageism that used her research as an evidence base, citing 11 of her studies.
The practical applications of Levy's research have extended beyond the U.S. For instance, her findings provided the rationale for a World Health Organization Campaign to End Ageism, supported by 194 countries, in which she is a scientific advisor. Levy is credited with creating the term “aging liberation” to refer to how ageism can be overcome and aging can be embraced on both an individual and a collective level.
Levy was invited by Robert Butler, who coined the term ageism and who was the founding director of the National Institute on Aging, to join his working group to address ageism in America. The New York Times journalist Paula Span writes about Levy’s relationship to Butler that “One could argue that she is his heir.”
Her studies on health and aging has been featured in national media, such as The New York Times, and NPR,, Washington Post, CNN Health, The Wall Street Journal, U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek, and Times Magazine, as well as international media, such as The Guardian, Der Spiegel,Bruhns, A. (2017, June 27) Jung im Kopf! Gutes vom Alter zu erwarten hält nachweislich jung – besser als jedes Fitnesstraining. and the BBC.Mosley, M. (2013). BBC Television Documentary. Horizon. The Truth about Personality
Awards Baltes Distinguished Research Achievement Award for Exceptional Theoretical and Empirical Contributions to the Psychological Science of Aging from the American Psychological Association Scholar Award for Research Related to Disadvantaged Older Adults (Gerontological Society of America and Senior Service America) Ewald W. Busse Research Award for Excellence in Social Behavioral Sciences (International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics) Donaghue Investigator Award (Patrick and Catherine Weldon Donaghue Medical Research Foundation) Margret M. Baltes Award for Outstanding Early Career Achievement in Social and Behavioral Gerontology (Margret M. and Paul Baltes Foundation and the Gerontological Society of America) Springer Award for Early Career Achievement in Research on Adult Development and Aging (American Psychological Association) Brookdale National Fellowship for Leadership in Aging (Brookdale Foundation) International Mensa Foundation New Investigator Award for Excellence in Research Gordon W. Allport Award (Harvard University) Graduate Research Fellowship (National Science Foundation) Richard Kalish Innovative Publication Award (Gerontological Society of America)Richard Kalish Innovative Publication Award. 2016. Gerontological Society of America. Gerontological News. Frontiers in Alzheimer’s and Aging Research Award (Pioneer Research Program)