Profs and Pints Richmond presents: “Rethink Your Age,” on the myths and stereotypes tied to any given age and how rejecting them improves understanding and extends lives, with Tracey Gendron, chair of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Department of Gerontology, director of the Virginia Center on Aging, and author of Ageism Unmasked: Exploring Age Bias and How to End It.

Whether you’re 18 or 80, odds are you’ve been stereotyped because of your age. Older adults are assumed to be depressed, unhappy, or incapable of using technology. Younger people often find themselves stereotyped as tech-obsessed, entitled, or lazy.

Worse yet, people who buy into negative attitudes toward ageing are at greater risk of chronic disease, depression, and diminished physical and cognitive functioning. On average people with positive attitudes about aging live seven and a half fewer years long than people with negative ones.

Come to Richmond’s Triple Crossing-Fulton taproom for a thought-provoking and often humorous talk in which Tracey Gendron, a leading expert in gerontology, will distill decades of research on aging and age discrimination and will debunk myths and misconceptions that people of all ages face.

She’ll break down the absurdity of generational bias and show why labels like Millennial, Gen X, Gen Z or Baby Boomer are primarily meaningless. While research about generations can provide a snapshot of broad trends at one point in time, she’ll explain, it’s folly to lump together millions upon millions of people within an arbitrarily defined span of time and assume they’ll have a similar behavioral blueprint and have the same cultural experiences that shape similar attitudes, values, and ideals. Juxtaposing generational labels with the concept of developmental psychology, she’ll dispel the myths that people in different generations are so different from one another that they can’t get along.

You’ll emerge from the talk liberated from misconceptions about what to expect of yourself or from others at any particular point in life. Think of your decision to attend as a gift to your future self. (Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later.)