Osmosis Design Lab

What is schema theory? Explain

Willerton

Schema is a readiness to interpret sensory information in a preset manner.

The War of the Ghosts (Bartlett, 1932)

Shows that memory isn’t as accurate as it is distorted by cultural schemas.

Aim: To find out how memory is distorted by cultural factors

Method: Retold a Navajo Indian folk story to a whole other culture. In both serial reproduction (person to person retelling), and repeated reproduction (same person retelling in a set time span sporadically), Bartlett found that the stories became shorter and more consistent with the reader’s cultural background. Bartlett named this process “rationalization”.

Synder and Uranowitz (1978)

Aim: Study the influence of schema on memory recall.

Method: Participants heard the story of Betty. Betty was popular and had a lot of dates, but no steady boyfriend. Participants who were told that Betty got married remembered her popularity, but those who were told that she was lesbian recalled her never having a steady boyfriend.

Conclusion: Memories become selective due to the influencing schemas.

Schank and Abelson (1977)

-Showed how schemas were organized and used to understand recurring social situations.

Schema theory has allowed psychologies to develop a unified theory of cognition showing all cognitive processes (ex. Thinking, memory, learning, attention, etc.)

Shows how prejudices arise from the formation of schemas.

Schemas are resistant to change,

Reliability of eyewitness testimonies

Loftus and Palmer (1974)

Aim: To measure the reliability of eye witness testimony

Method: Participants are shown clips of different car accidents. After, they were asked a critical question about the speed of the cars in the accident. The verb was switched in every question, and found that the word “smashed into” was estimated to go the fastest, while “contacted” was lowest in speed.

Schema theory defines cognitive schemas as mental representations of knowledge. Mental representations (schemas) are stored in categories/concepts in memory, and provide guidelines for interpretation of incoming information. Schemas influence cognition and memory.

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